Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his aides rejected a request from Secretary of State Antony Blinken to publicly say that Israel is not implementing an ethnic cleansing plan in northern Gaza, known as the “general’s plan,” The Washington Post reported Tuesday.
The report said Netanyahu and his top aide Ron Dermer told Blinken that the general’s plan was “absolutely not our policy” and that the perception has been “deeply damaging to us.” But when asked to state that publicly, they declined.
The Times of Israel also reported that Netanyahu rejected the request to publicly denounce the ethnic cleansing plan.
While Israeli officials have told the US they’re not carrying out the ethnic cleansing plan, Israeli soldiers told Haaretz last week that it’s already underway in northern Gaza, where Israel has ordered hundreds of thousands of Palestinians to flee to the south and imposed a full siege. More than 500 Palestinians have been killed by the renewed assault, which has been focused on the Jabalia refugee camp.