The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants on Thursday for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, his former defense minister and a Hamas military leader, accusing them of war crimes and crimes against humanity. The announcement came as health officials in the Gaza Strip said the death toll from the 13-month-old war between Israel and Hamas has surpassed 44,000.
The warrant marked the first time that a sitting leader of a major Western ally has been accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity by a global court of justice. The ICC panel said there were reasonable grounds to believe that both Netanyahu and his ex-defense minister bear responsibility for the war crime of starvation and the crimes against humanity of murder, persecution and other inhumane acts.
Israel’s war has caused heavy destruction across Gaza, decimated parts of the territory and driven almost the entire population of 2.3 million people from their homes, leaving most dependent on aid to survive.
Israel launched its war in Gaza after Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting another 250. Around 100 hostages are still inside Gaza, at least a third of whom are believed to be dead.
___
Here’s the Latest:
KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip — The three children were playing outside a cluster of tents housing displaced people in the Gaza Strip when an Israeli airstrike killed them, along with six other people.
It’s become a grim, near-daily ritual more than 13 months into the Israel-Hamas war, which local health authorities said Thursday has killed over 44,000 Palestinians.
Israel carries out frequent strikes against what it says are militants hiding in civilian areas, and women and children are nearly always among the dead.
Wednesday’s strike killed Hamza al-Qadi, 7, his brother Abdulaziz, 5, and their sister Laila, 4, in a tent camp in the southern city of Khan Younis.
Areej al-Qadi, their mother, says they were playing outside when they were killed.
“All that’s left of them are their notebooks, their books and a blood-stained jacket,” she said as she broke into tears. “They were children who did nothing.”
The Israeli military did not respond to a request for comment on the strike.
Gaza’s Health Ministry said Thursday that 44,056 Palestinians have been killed and 104,268 wounded since the start of the war, which was ignited by Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack into Israel. Palestinian militants killed some 1,200 people that day, mostly civilians, and abducted around 250 people.
The Health Ministry does not say how many of those killed in Gaza were fighters but says women and children make up more than half the fatalities.
Israel, which rarely comments on individual strikes, says it has killed over 17,000 militants, without providing evidence.
Hours after the ministry announced the latest toll, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, his former defense minister and a Hamas military leader.
Mahmoud bin Hassan, the children’s father, said he buried them on Thursday.
He asked when the international community would take action to stop the war. “When the entire Palestinian population has been killed?” he said.
NEW YORK — Human Rights Watch applauded the International Criminal Court's arrest warrants issued Thursday against both Israeli and Hamas officials.
The warrants “break through the perception that certain individuals are beyond the reach of the law,” the associate international justice director at Human Rights Watch, Balkees Jarrah, said in a statement.
The New York-based rights group earlier this month released a report saying Israel has committed war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Gaza Strip, including massive forced displacements that amount to ethnic cleansing.
JERUSALEM — Israeli prosecutors have charged a former aide to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with leaking classified documents to international media, apparently to protect the Israeli leader from criticism as a hostage deal was collapsing.
Eli Feldstein, a former media adviser to Netanyahu, was charged Thursday with leaking classified information with the intent of harming state security and obstruction of justice.
The leaked documents are said to have formed the basis of a widely discredited article in the London-based Jewish Chronicle — which was later withdrawn — suggesting Hamas planned to spirit hostages out of Gaza through Egypt, and an article in Germany’s Bild newspaper that said Hamas was drawing out the hostage talks as a form of psychological warfare on Israel.
Critics say the leaks were aimed at giving Netanyahu political cover as the case-fire talks ground to a halt. Some have accused Netanyahu of resisting a deal in to preserve his governing coalition, which includes hard-line members who have threatened to bring down the government if he makes concessions to Hamas.
The leaks came at a time of public uproar over the deaths of six hostages who were killed by their Hamas captors as Israeli soldiers were closing in.
The indictment said the leaks were meant “to create media influence on the public discourse in Israel in regards to the handling of the hostage situation, after the news of the murder of six hostages.”
The indictment identified two other Netanyahu aides as being connected to the scheme, but only Feldstein and an unidentified reservist in Israeli military intelligence were charged.
Netanyahu, who denies the accusations, has not been identified as a suspect in the burgeoning investigation.
Israeli media say if convicted, Feldstein could potentially face life in prison.
JERUSALEM -- The Israeli military has launched an investigation into the death of a 70-year-old Israeli man who entered Lebanon with Israeli forces and was killed in a Hezbollah ambush.
Investigators are trying to determine, among other things, who allowed Zeev Erlich into the combat zone with the forces and why he was permitted to enter.
According to Israeli media reports, Erlich was not on active duty when he was shot, but was wearing a military uniform and had a weapon. The army said he was a reservist with the rank of major and identified him as a “fallen soldier” when it announced his death.
Erlich was a well-known West Bank settler and researcher of Jewish history. Media reports said Erlich was permitted to enter Lebanon to explore a local archaeological site.
The army said a 20-year-old soldier was killed in the same incident, while an officer was badly wounded.
The army announced Thursday that the chief of staff, Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi, has appointed a team of experts “to examine and strengthen operational discipline and military culture” following the incident.
It said its commander for northern Israel, Maj. Gen. Ori Gordin, would launch a separate “command inquiry,” while Israeli military police conduct a separate probe. Such investigations can lead to criminal charges.
BEIRUT — At least 29 people were killed Thursday in Israeli strikes on different towns and villages across Lebanon, according to Lebanon’s Health Ministry and state-run media.
In eastern Lebanon, Israeli airstrikes killed 26 people in six different towns in Baalbek province, the health ministry and the National News Agency said.
In Tyre province, southern Lebanon, three people were killed in an Israeli strike, the health ministry said.
The health ministry Wednesday said that over 3,550 people have been killed in the 13-month war between Hezbollah and Israel, the majority following Israel’s escalation in late September.
The European Union's foreign policy chief has underlined that the arrest warrants issued by the International Criminal Court against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Hamas officials are a legal and not political matter, and that they are binding on all 27 EU member countries and other signatories to the ICC to implement.
“The tragedy in Gaza has to stop," Josep Borrell told reporters during a visit to Jordan. “It is not a political decision. It is the decision of an international court of justice, and the decision of the court has to be respected, and implemented.”
“This decision is a binding decision on all state parties of the court, which include all members of the European Union," he added.
ANKARA — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s ruling partyhas welcomed the decision by the International Criminal Court to issue arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamn Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, calling it a judgement made for the sake of “humanity.”
Omer Celik, spokesman for the Erdogan’s party, said on the social media platform X that Netanyahu and Gallant would “eventually be held accountable for genocide.” Celik also criticised Israeli officials who described the ICC decision as antisemitic.
Turkey is among the most vocal critics of Israel’s military actions in Gaza and has submitted a formal request to join a genocide case that South Africa has filed against Israel at the U.N.’s International Court of Justice.
Dutch foreign minister Caspar Veldkamp, whose country hosts the International Criminal Court, has confirmed The Netherlands would arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu if he arrived on Dutch soil.
“The line from the government is clear. We are obliged to cooperate with the ICC ... we abide 100% by the Rome Statute,” he said in response to a question in parliament Thursday.
Other European officials were more cautious.
In France, a spokesman for the Foreign Ministry said he supported the International Criminal Court's prosecutor but declined to comment when asked more specifically if France would arrest Netanyahu if he were to step on French soil.
“Today, combating impunity is our priority. We ratified the ICC Statute in 2000 and have consistently supported the court’s actions. Our response will align with these principles,” Christophe Lemoine told reporters at a press conference.
Lemoine added that the warrants were “a complex legal issue ... It’s a situation that requires a lot of legal precautions.”
In Italy, the foreign and justice ministries didn’t immediately respond to emails seeking comment about whether Italy, an ICC member which hosted the Rome conference that gave birth to the court, would honor the arrest warrant.
Premier Giorgia Meloni hosted Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in March 2023 and has strongly supported Israel since Oct. 7, while providing humanitarian aid for Palestinians in Gaza.
JERUSALEM — Israel’s mostly ceremonial president, Isaac Herzog, has called the International Criminal Court's arrest warrants against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “a dark day for justice. A dark day for humanity.”
In a post on X, he said the international court “has chosen the side of terror and evil over democracy and freedom, and turned the very system of justice into a human shield for Hamas’ crimes against humanity."
Israel Katz, Israel’s new defense minister, said the decision was “a moral disgrace, entirely tainted by antisemitism, and drags the international judicial system to an unprecedented low.” He said it “serves Iran, the head of the snake, and its proxies.”
Benny Gantz, a retired general and political rival to Netanyahu, also condemned the decision, saying it showed “moral blindness” and was a “shameful stain of historic proportion that will never be forgotten.”
Hamas has welcomed the decision by the International Criminal Court to issue warrants against Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defense minister Yoav Gallant, calling it an “important and historic precedent” after what it said was decades of injustice at the hands of a “fascist occupation.”
The statement did not refer to the warrants issued for the militant group’s own leaders.
Hamas called on all nations to “cooperate with the court in bringing the Zionist war criminals, Netanyahu and Gallant, to justice, and to work immediately to stop the crimes of genocide against innocent civilians in the Gaza Strip.”
DEIR AL-BALAH, The Gaza Strip — Bakeries have reopened in the central Gaza Strip after being closed for several days because of flour shortages.
The shortages appear to have been linked to the looting of nearly 100 truckloads of aid by armed men in southern Gaza last weekend.
Associated Press footage showed a crowd of hundreds pushing and shouting outside a bakery in the central city of Deir al-Balah on Thursday. The day before the reopening, the price of a bag of 15 loaves of pita bread had climbed above $13.
“In my house, there is not a morsel of bread, and the children are hungry,” said Sultan Abu Sultan, who was displaced from northern Gaza during the war.
The amount of aid entering Gaza plunged in October as Israel launched a major offensive in the isolated north, where experts say famine may be underway.
Hunger is widespread across the territory, even in central Gaza where aid groups have more access. Humanitarian organizations say Israeli restrictions, ongoing fighting and the breakdown of law and order make it difficult to deliver assistance.
Israel’s offensive, launched after Hamas’ October 2023 attack, has displaced around 90% of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million people. Hundreds of thousands are crammed into tent camps with little in the way of public services and are reliant on international food aid.
NICOSIA — The president of Cyprus says the European Union must play a bigger role in the Middle East as it can no longer stand by as an observer.
President Nikos Christodoulides said the 27-member bloc needs to establish closer ties with countries that bolster regional stability like Egypt, Jordan and the Gulf states.
“The conflict in the Middle East is taking place on the EU’s doorstep, in an area of vital interest to the bloc’s interests, where any escalation or regional spillover will have significant consequences on its security and stability,” Christodoulides told an Economist conference in the Cypriot capital.
Christodoulides said EU member Cyprus for years has tried to get this message across to Brussels. The island nation earlier this year was the staging ground for a maritime corridor delivering some 20,000 tons of humanitarian aid to Gaza.
The EU is wracked by members’ divisions over how peace should come about in the Middle East
THE HAGUE — The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants on Thursday for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, his former defense minister and Hamas officials, accusing them of war crimes and crimes against humanity over the war in Gaza and the October 2023 attacks that triggered Israel’s offensive in the Palestinian territory.
The decision turns Netanyahu and the others into internationally wanted suspects and is likely to further isolate them and complicate efforts to negotiate a cease-fire to end the 13-month conflict.
But its practical implications could be limited since Israel and its major ally, the United States, are not members of the court and several of the Hamas officials have been subsequently killed in the conflict.
Netanyahu and other Israeli leaders have previously condemned ICC Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan’s request for the warrants as disgraceful and antisemitic. U.S. President Joe Biden also blasted the prosecutor and expressed support for Israel’s right to defend itself against Hamas. Hamas also slammed the request.
The death toll in the Gaza Strip from the 13-month-old war between Israel and Hamas has surpassed 44,000, local health officials said Thursday.
The Gaza Health Ministry does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in its count, but it has said that more than half of the fatalities are women and children. The Israeli military says it has killed over 17,000 militants, without providing evidence.
The Health Ministry said 44,056 people have been killed and 104,268 wounded since the start of the war. It has said the real toll is higher because thousands of bodies are buried under rubble or in areas that medics cannot access.
The war began when Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting another 250. Around 100 hostages are still inside Gaza, at least a third of whom are believed to be dead. Most of the rest were released during a cease-fire last year.
Around 90% of Gaza's population of 2.3 million people have been displaced, often multiple times, and hundreds of thousands are living in squalid tent camps with little food, water or basic services.
Israel says it tries to avoid harming civilians and blames their deaths on Hamas because the militants operate in residential areas, where they have built tunnels, rocket launchers and other military infrastructure.
JERUSALEM — A rocket fired from Lebanon killed a man and wounded two others in northern Israel on Thursday, according to the Magen David Adom rescue service.
The service said paramedics found the body of the man in his 30s near a playground in the town of Nahariya, near the border with Lebanon, after a rocket attack on Thursday.
Israel meanwhile struck targets in southern Lebanon and several buildings south of Beirut, the Lebanese capital, after warning people to evacuate.
