Israeli hardliners fume, as army moves Gazan orphans from Rafah to Bethlehem

The army is facing criticism after a report carried by Channel 12 news that some 70 Gazan orphans were moved to the West Bank over the last day, in a move coordinated by the Defense Ministry and the National Security Council, but which did not receive explicit permission from the government’s security cabinet.

According to the report, children were moved from the SOS Children’s Village in Gaza to a facility in Bethlehem at the request of the German embassy, via the Taba crossing near Eilat. The report claims the orphanage had stopped functioning, necessitating the extraordinary rescue.

According to information available online as of late January, SOS administered an orphanage in Rafah where 76 children and young people sheltered, some of whom had lost their parents in the war. SOS said at the time that its residents were safe, with food, water, and fuel being stockpiled.

Israel has sought to evacuate Gazan civilians from Rafah ahead of a planned offensive in the city, a move not backed by the international community, which has opposed evacuating Gazans out of the enclave for fear Israel will seek to take over the territory.

Protests against the operation, however, are lodged not by Palestinians but by settler leaders, including Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who calls it “an ethical failure,” and demands answers from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The station quotes an unnamed source in the security cabinet calling the evacuation “ridiculous and immoral behavior toward the hostages in Gaza and their families.”

Shlomo Ne’eman, the outgoing head of the Gush Etzion Regional Council in the West Bank, which borders Bethlehem, urges residents to protest on a road used for the transfer.

“We provide more and more gestures and make sure that aid is transferred to a group of murderers, when innocent citizens including women, children, the elderly, and the sick are being held by these evil people,” he says in a statement.