IDF denies that Zamir ignored warnings from top military lawyer about legality of Gaza City evacuation

The military says a report by Haaretz, claiming that IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir ignored warnings by Military Advocate General Maj. Gen. Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi that issuing evacuation notices to residents of Gaza City could be illegal, is “false.”

“Following the erroneous reports that were published, it should be clarified that the claim that the chief of staff ordered the evacuation of Gaza City contrary to the legal opinion given to him is false. The IDF acts and will continue to act in accordance with the law. Any other claim is baseless,” the IDF says in a statement.

The IDF says that Tomer-Yerushalmi “is fully involved in the IDF’s assessments regarding the Gaza Strip, including the issue of moving the population for its protection, and presented to the relevant officials the legal conditions required for this.”

The evacuation warnings were only distributed after officials from the Defense Ministry’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories “confirmed that these [legal] conditions were met,” the army adds.

The Haaretz report said that the military advocate general contacted Zamir on Thursday last week to tell him it was not possible to declare that proper preparations were in place for the evacuation of Gaza City, and that the Intelligence Directorate was concerned that the evacuation would violate the laws of war due to the dire humanitarian conditions in the south. She therefore said issuing the evacuation warnings should be postponed, but Zamir decided to go ahead regardless, the report says.