Former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said over the weekend that he regrets the death of Hamas leader Khalil al-Hayya’s son in Israel’s strike in Qatar last week.

Speaking in an interview with the terror-supporting Qatari media outlet Al Jazeera, Olmert said, “There are senior Israeli officials who need to be tried for their crimes. The Israeli government gave orders to kill Palestinians. Killing the negotiators means that you don’t want negotiations and you don’t want to release the hostages. I want to say that I’m sorry for Al-Hayya’s son and his wife—they shouldn’t have been victims. We kill terrorists, and we will continue to fight terror.”

Olmert also used the platform to attack Netanyahu, claiming, “Netanyahu does not represent us and does not represent Israel. I am making every effort to bring him down.”

Likud Minister Miki Zohar responded to the report by stating, “Olmert is a convicted criminal who repeatedly slanders Israel in the world only because he was caught in his corruption and served a prison sentence. He is a dangerous and vengeful man with zero values ​​and is fundamentally corrupt, who receives a platform in some of the media only because he expresses the ‘right opinions.’ What a bushah.”

In May, Olmert told the BBC that “what Israel is doing now in the Gaza Strip is close to being a war crime.”

(YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)