Israeli Officials Fear Arrest Warrants Over Possible War Crimes

Officials in Israel are increasingly worried about the possibility of the International Criminal Court issuing arrest warrants against the country’s leaders, as international pressure mounts over the war. in Gaza, while airstrikes that took place overnight to Monday killed 25 people in the city of Rafah in the Southern Gaza Strip. Among the dead in Rafah were nine women and five children, one of whom was only five days old, according to civil status records.

Israel plans to attack the city, although its closest ally, the United States, and other countries have repeatedly warned against this, stressing that the attack will lead to a catastrophe for over a million Palestinians who fled to Rafah.

Israeli officials recently pointed to an International Criminal Court investigation launched three years ago into possible war crimes committed by Israel and Palestinian militants since the 2014 war between Israel and Hamas. study also looks at how Israel built settlements in occupied areas that Palestinians want for their future state. There was no comment from the court Monday, and no notice was given that arrest warrants were pending in the case.

But Israel’s Foreign Ministry said late Sunday that it had informed Israeli missions about rumors that arrest warrants could be issued against senior political and military officials. Foreign Minister Israel Katz said such arrest orders would “boost morale” for Hamas and other armed groups.

For his part, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Israel “will never accept any attempt by the International Criminal Court to undermine its inherent right to self-defense.” “

Netanyahu tweeted on the social media platform “X”, saying: “The threat of arresting soldiers and officers in the only democratic state in the Middle East and the only Jewish state in the world getting angry

It was not clear what raised Israel’s concerns. A series of Israeli announcements in recent days about allowing more humanitarian aid into Gaza appear to be aimed in part at avoiding ICC action.

ICC prosecutor Karim Khan said when he visited the area in December that the investigation “is proceeding with speed, rigor, determination and determination that we will not work on emotion, but on hard evidence.”

Neither Israel nor the United States accept the ICC’s jurisdiction, but an arrest warrant could put Israeli officials at risk of arrest in other countries. It would also be a serious rebuke of Israel’s actions at a time when pro-Palestinian protests have spread across American college campuses.

The International Court of Justice, a separate body, is investigating whether Israel committed genocide in the ongoing war in Gaza. Israel rejected accusations of wrongdoing and accused the two international courts of bias.

Instead, the Israeli state accused Hamas of committing genocide over the October 7 attack, which led to war. Gunmen stormed military bases and agricultural communities in southern Israel, killing about 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and taking about 250 hostages.

In response, Israel launched an air, sea and ground attack that killed at least 34,488 Palestinians, most of them women and children.

Israel blames the high civilian death toll on Hamas as the militants fight in densely populated areas. The army says they killed more than 12,000 protesters, without providing evidence.

The war displaced about 80 percent of Gaza’s 2.3 million people from their homes, caused widespread destruction in many towns and cities and pushed northern Gaza into famine. Israel has vowed to extend its offensive to Rafah, where more than a million Palestinians have taken refuge to flee the fighting, stressing that Rafah is Hamas’s last stronghold, as there are thousands of fighters.

US President Joe Biden’s administration, which provided crucial military and political support for the attack, urged Israel not to attack Rafah over concerns it could cause a humanitarian disaster, concerns it said a again in a phone call with Netanyahu on Sunday.

The Biden administration has a May 8 deadline to report to Congress on whether Israel is complying with international law in using US military aid, including authorizing humanitarian aid.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken is expected to visit Israel on his final trip to the region, which he began in Saudi Arabia on Monday. He said that Israel must do more to bring aid into Gaza, but the best way to reduce the humanitarian crisis is for both sides to agree to a ceasefire.

The United States, Egypt and Qatar are pressuring Israel and Hamas to accept the agreement they drafted, which would release some hostages and reach a temporary truce. Hamas is believed to still be holding around 100 hostages and the remains of around 30 others after releasing most of the rest in exchange for the release of Palestinian prisoners the – last year

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Hamas said it would not release the remaining guards without reaching an agreement to end the war. Netanyahu rejected this request, saying that Israel would continue the offensive until Hamas was destroyed and all the enemies returned.

At an event in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, Blinken called on Hamas to accept what he said was a “very generous” offer from Israel. He said: “At the moment, Hamas is the only thing standing between the people of Gaza and the ceasefire.

Additional sources • father