HUMZA Yousaf has harshly criticised comments by Israel's foreign minister calling for a "temporary evacuation" of the West Bank.
On Wednesday, Israel Katz said that the country should consider removing people from the northern part of the territory to facilitate an "anti-terror" raid on armed groups there.
Katz's comments and Yousaf's response come as Israeli forces launch what they call a "counterterrorism operation" in the territory, which has seen refugee camps attacked.
The former first minister responded to the comments in an Instagram Reel, where he said: "I have just seen the latest comments from the Israeli foreign minister, who in his words is calling for the 'temporary evacuation' of Palestinians from the West Bank.
"Who does he think he is fooling? There was nothing temporary about the forcible displacement and removal of Palestinians from their homes in 1948.
"There is nothing temporary about Gazans having to flee their homes as Israeli bombs rain down on their heads."
"The removal of people from their land, to be replaced by another people of different ethnic origin, is the very textbook definition of ethnic cleansing."
Israeli forces entered the West Bank on Wednesday, killing at least nine people in the northern part of the territory.
The BBC reported that the incursion appeared to be a major operation, with four cities – Jenin, Tulkarm, Nablus and Tubas – targeted at once.
It is believed to be the first time since the second intifada, a major uprising in Palestine between 2000 and 2005, that several Israeli cities were targeted in this way.
Yousaf's in-laws were stuck in Gaza for an extended period of time last year after fighting began on October 7.
Later in the reel, he implored the international community to take action, saying: "How many more egregious breaches of international law does there have to be for the international community to finally do something?
"If international law is to mean anything, there must be the harshest sanction for those who breach it.
"Otherwise, international law isn't worth the paper it's written on."
