Israel strikes Gaza after ICC issues arrest warrants
- 23 Nov 2024
The International Criminal Court (ICC) on Thursday said that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defence minister Yoav Gallant may bear "criminal responsibility" for the war crime of starvation as a method of warfare and other crimes against humanity against Palestinians in the besieged Gaza Strip.
The Hague-based court's decision drew mixed reactions from world leaders, with some vowing to arrest the Israelis if they entered their country's territory.
Other leaders, including US President Joe Biden, have condemned the court's decision which Netanyahu dismissed as "absurd" and "driven by anti-Semitic hatred of Israel".
Israel has similarly pushed back against accusations of genocide in its war against Hamas, with a case brought before the International Court of Justice in December and, more recently, a report issued by a UN special committee last week.
On the ground in Gaza, the military said an air strike on the territory's north killed five Hamas militants including two company commanders "who participated in the October 7 massacre" last year.
Medics said dozens were killed or missing after an overnight Israeli raid on Beit Lahia and nearby Jabalia, which are among the targets of a sweeping Israeli assault on north Gaza.
The civil defence agency was not immediately able to provide an exact toll.
Meanwhile, Pierre-Henry Deshayes Israel's military said on Friday it had killed two commanders involved in Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack, pressing its north Gaza offensive a day after the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants over the war.With Israel also fighting Hamas ally Hezbollah in Lebanon, live AFPTV footage showed several strikes early Friday on Beirut's southern suburbs, where the Iran-backed group holds sway.
Vowing to stop Hamas from regrouping in the already devastated north of the Gaza Strip, Israel launched a sweeping assault on the area in early October.In Gaza City, one man who said he took his cousins to hospital after a strike urged "the world... to put an end" to the war."We've had enough," said Belal, who only gave his first name."I've lost my entire family -- 10 family members gone, and I'm the only one left... All we want is an end to this injustice we're living. We want nothing else."At least 44,056 people have been killed in Gaza in more than 13 months of war, most of them civilians, according to figures from the Hamas-ruled territory's health ministry which the United Nations considers reliable.It was triggered by the deadliest attack in Israeli history, which resulted in the deaths of 1,206 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.
Agence France-Presse
