Israeli PM Netanyahu: ethnic cleansing of Gaza is “inevitable” – War on Gaza Day 585

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Israeli PM Netanyahu: ethnic cleansing of Gaza is “inevitable” – War on Gaza Day 585
An inside view of the destroyed Nasser hospital after an Israeli airstrike in Khan Younis, Gaza on May 13, 2025. (Abed Rahim Khatib – Anadolu Agency)

Compilation of news reports – IAK staff

NOTE: The Gaza Health Ministry’s daily casualty figures are based on the number of dead and wounded Palestinians brought to hospitals, and does not include victims that are under the rubble or elsewhere, where ambulance and civil defense crews can not reach them.

At least 48 Palestinians were killed Tuesday in renewed Israeli airstrikes in the Gaza Strip, according to medics.​​​​​​​

Among the dead were Brigadier General Ahmed Al-Qudra, chief of the anti-narcotics police, and journalist Hassan Aslih.

Israel kills Palestinian journalist in new hospital bombing

An Israeli drone strike on 13 May killed Palestinian journalist Hassan Aslih while he was receiving treatment in the Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis.  

Israeli warplanes assassinated journalist Hassan Aslih early Tuesday in his hospital room at Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis, Gaza.
Israeli warplanes assassinated journalist Hassan Aslih early Tuesday in his hospital room at Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis, Gaza. (social media)

Local media described Tuesday’s attack as a “deliberate assassination,” noting that Aslih was struck while being treated in the hospital’s burns unit.

The Israeli army claimed that it targeted “a Hamas command and control center inside the hospital,” an allegation Israel repeatedly uses when targeting medical facilities.

Aslih was a prominent field reporter and director of the Alam24 news agency. He had been recovering from injuries sustained in a previous Israeli air strike on 10 April that targeted a media tent near the same hospital.

That strike appeared to strike Aslih directly, hitting his mobile phone. Though he survived, the attack killed two other journalists and wounded several others.

In May 2024, the Israeli army also attempted to kill him, targeting his home in Khan Younis with a missile strike.

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, head of the World Health Organization, noted on X that Tuesday’s attack killed two and injured 12. One of the injured is in “critical condition and is undergoing multiple surgical procedures,” he said.

“The burn unit was struck, 18 hospital beds in the surgical department, 8 beds in the intensive care unit and 10 inpatient beds were destroyed,” he said.

After the attack on Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, the Israeli military has now heavily bombed the European Gaza Hospital in the southern Gaza city.

The Israeli army confirmed it worked with internal security agency Shin Bet to attack the hospital, which it claimed housed an underground “command-and-control centre” for Hamas.

NOTE: By one count, Israeli attacks have killed approximately 205 Palestinian journalists and media workers; Palestinians have killed 4 Israelis (other groups have tallied between 178 and 264 Palestinian journalists killed – depending on the criteria used).
When Israel feels obliged to explain its airstrikes (often it doesn’t even bother), it uses essentially the same words, “the site was a Hamas command and control center”; often followed by, “many steps were taken to reduce the chance of harming civilians,” and a note that it used “precise” munitions.
But Israel has yet to provide a shred of evidence to back up its claims; attacks are often carried out without warning to civilians to evacuate, and frequently cause massive damage and loss of life. (More here.)
RELATED: Goodbye, Hassan. You knew they were going to kill you.
Palestinians continue their daily lives among the ruins in the Shuja’iyya neighborhood of Gaza City, on May 12, 2025.
Palestinians continue their daily lives among the ruins in the Shuja’iyya neighborhood of Gaza City, on May 12, 2025. (Saeed M. M. T. Jaras – Anadolu Agency)

Netanyahu Says the Ethnic Cleansing of Gaza Is ‘Inevitable’

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that the forced removal of Palestinians from Gaza was “inevitable.”

“We are destroying more and more homes, and Gazans have nowhere to return to. The only inevitable outcome will be the wish of Gazans to emigrate outside of the Gaza Strip,” Netanyahu said at the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, according to The Jerusalem Post.

Israeli officials have made clear that the ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian population of Gaza is their ultimate goal, but it remains unclear where the Palestinians would go. Netanyahu told the committee that the “main problem” preventing “emigration” is the lack of countries willing to take in the Palestinians.

Israel has maintained a total blockade on Gaza since March 2 and has developed plans to start bringing in aid using private US security contractors to use food to lure starving Palestinians into a tiny part of southern Gaza. Netanyahu said that the aid would be conditional on the Palestinians not returning to where they came from.

Netanyahu also said Israel was currently not planning to establish Jewish settlements in Gaza at the moment because President Trump is interested in having the US take over the territory.

Limor Son Har-Melech, an Israeli MK and member of the Jewish Power Party, suggested American Jews could move to Gaza. “Bring the Jews from the United States, this way we’ll hit two birds with one stone,” he said.

NOTE: Forced transfer of a people group is a crime against humanity.
IOF soldiers operating in the Gaza Strip in an undated photo released January 2, 2024.
IOF soldiers operating in the Gaza Strip in an undated photo released January 2, 2024. ( Israel Occupation Forces/Handout)

Israel’s Netanyahu says won’t end Gaza war, but might accept temporary ceasefire

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