Strikes on Gaza continue, as the war has entered its eighth month. On Monday, these air raids targeted two refugee camps in the center of the enclave. At the same time, arrest warrants were requested by the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) against leaders of the two enemy camps, Hamas and Israeli, for alleged war crimes.
Information to remember
⇒ France supports the International Criminal Court
⇒ Washington considers the arrest warrant against Netanyahu “scandalous”
⇒ 5 people killed in Israeli fire in southern Lebanon
Israel and Hamas denounce ICC arrest warrants
Israel and Hamas, which are engaged in violent fighting in the Gaza Strip threatened by famine, each denounce the arrest warrants requested from the International Criminal Court (ICC) against their leaders for alleged war crimes.
The Israeli Prime Minister “rejected with disgust the Hague prosecutor’s comparison between Israel”, a “democratic” country, and “the mass murderers of Hamas”. His Foreign Minister, Israel Katz, denounced a “scandalous decision” and “a historic dishonor” for the court in The Hague. The Palestinian Islamist movement for its part denounced “the attempts of the prosecutor […] to assimilate the victim to the executioner.
Washington considers arrest warrant “scandalous”
American President Joe Biden, Israel’s main ally, considered the arrest warrant requested against Mr. Netanyahu “scandalous”, saying that “there is no equivalence” between Israel and Hamas. He “rejected” the term “genocide” to describe the Israeli offensive in Gaza, during a reception for the Jewish community at the White House.
France supports the International Criminal Court which issued arrest warrants
“France supports the International Criminal Court, its independence, and the fight against impunity in all situations,” French diplomacy wrote in a press release regarding these arrest warrants. “France condemned on October 7 the anti-Semitic massacres perpetrated by Hamas. This terrorist group claimed barbaric attacks directed against civilians, accompanied by acts of torture and sexual violence that it itself documented, including understood by spreading and celebrating them,” continues Paris. Regarding Israel, “France has been warning for many months about the imperative of strict compliance with international humanitarian law and in particular about the unacceptable nature of civilian losses in the Gaza Strip and insufficient humanitarian access”, adds the communicated.
ICC prosecutor Karim Khan said on Monday that he had requested arrest warrants against Benjamin Netanyahu and his Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for crimes such as “deliberately starving civilians”, “intentional homicide” and “extermination and/or murder” in connection with the Israeli operation in Gaza. Karim Khan also requested warrants against three senior Hamas leaders – Ismaïl Haniyeh, Mohammed Deif and Yahya Sinouar – for notably “extermination”, “rape and other forms of sexual violence” and “hostage-taking as a war crime.
Josep Borrell takes note of ICC decision
“I take note of the decision of the prosecutor” of the ICC Karim Khan, indicated the Spanish official on the social network more serious under international law. “All States which have ratified the statutes of the ICC are required to execute the decisions of the Court,” Josep Borrell further underlined.
If the ICC judges decided to issue these arrest warrants, in theory, any of the 124 member states of this court would be obliged to arrest the targeted people if they visited their territory. The ICC has no police force to enforce its mandates and relies on the willingness of its member states to play the game.
South Lebanon: five killed in Hezbollah ranks by Israeli fire
Five people, including four Hezbollah fighters, were killed Monday in southern Lebanon, according to the pro-Iranian group and the official Lebanese press agency (ANI). Hezbollah announced a retaliatory attack, which affected five of its fighters. The Israeli army announced for its part that it had targeted “a Hezbollah terrorist cell” in the Meïss el-Jabal region, and had hit “a weapons storage site and a Hezbollah military complex”.
Since the start of the war in the Gaza Strip between Israel and Hamas on October 7, pro-Iranian Hezbollah has regularly targeted northern Israel in support of Hamas, its Palestinian ally. The Israeli army responds by carrying out strikes deeper and deeper into Lebanon.