Israel’s Tel Aviv As the official death toll in Gaza approaches 45,000, according to Palestinian health authorities, Israel has challenged the International Criminal Court’s arrest warrants for former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Israeli airstrikes that killed at least 26 people Sunday, including 16 at a school in northern Gaza that was providing shelter to displaced Palestinians, brought the territory closer to the somber milestone.
Israel filed the appeal against the ICC arrest warrants, according to Oren Marmorstein, a spokesman for Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, who confirmed this to NBC News on Sunday.
Crimes against humanity and war crimes, including the war crime of hunger as a means of warfare, as well as the crimes against humanity of murder, persecution, and other cruel actions, were the subjects of the warrants, which were issued between at least October 8, 2023, and May 20, 2024.
According to Marmorstein, Israel, which is not a party to the ICC, vehemently denies the unfounded charges and is committed to upholding the fairness of its stances and vehemently opposing the injustice.
Gideon Saar, Israel’s foreign minister, added that the Irish government’s harsh anti-Israel actions were the reason he ordered the closing of Ireland’s embassy in Israel.
After accusing Israel of collectively punishing Gazans, the Irish government said last week that it will request that the International Court of Justice expand its definition of genocide.
Netanyahu’s spokesperson, Omer Dostri, has confirmed that Netanyahu discussed regional developments in Lebanon, Syria, Gaza, and the threat posed by Iran with President-elect Donald Trump on Saturday, despite the closure being another step in Israel’s increasing isolation from the international community.
Netanyahu’s administration announced on Sunday that his government has authorized plans to increase the number of settlements in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, committing more than $11 million to a plan that calls for “doubling” the area’s present population of about 20,000. Trump issued an executive order in 2019 acknowledging Israeli sovereignty over the region, which was taken from Syria in 1967.
Israel also attacked Khalil Aweida, a school-turned-shelter, before assaulting it and ordering displaced families to walk towards Gaza City, according to Reuters, which cited residents and medics. Israel reportedly blasted clusters of houses and set others on fire in three communities in Gaza.
The World Health Organization has delivered limited fuel and medical supplies amid the ongoing siege, according to Mohammed Abu Afash, director of Palestinian Medical Relief, a non-governmental organization, who warned on Sunday of a “environmental disaster” in the north due to the buildup of bodies in the streets and their consumption by stray dogs and cats.
A request for response was not immediately answered by the Israeli military.
Following a wave of airstrikes on Saturday that killed at least 49 people, including seven during an attack on another school housing displaced Palestinians, Israel launched its attack on the school-turned-shelter.
Among the dead, they added, were women and children, including a two-day-old baby girl.
In response to the Oct. 7, 2023 terrorist attack, which claimed around 1,200 Israeli lives and took about 250 captive, the Israeli military has been conducting operations in northern Gaza for more than two months, while the siege of the Gaza Strip has been in place for 15 months.
Since then, over 105,000 people have been injured, approximately 45,000 people have died in Gaza—the majority of them women and children—and many dead are still trapped beneath debris.
Tensions have increased in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, meanwhile, after deadly clashes between Palestinian militants and Palestinian Authority police in the city of Jenin resulted in the death of at least one person.
Checkpoints have been established in the city by Western-backed PA troops, who have also asserted that their forces are conducting security operations to bring law and order back to the city’s refugee camp area, which is a hotbed of militants who have been estranged from Palestinian authority.
After the violence, UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini announced on Saturday that the agency for Palestinian refugees had suspended services in Jenin Camp for another day, preventing residents from accessing healthcare and other vital services and preventing children from attending school.
Lazzarini wrote on X that all parties involved in these domestic conflicts must respect the fundamental tenets of international law that provide civilian safety and access to essential services in any circumstance.
Omer Bekin reported from Tel Aviv, Israel, and Freddie Clayton from London.
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