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Israeli strikes in Gaza, new reactions after the ICC arrest warrant against Netanyahu
The Israeli army claimed on Friday to have killed five Hamas fighters in the Gaza Strip involved in the attack of October 7, 2023, the day after the issuance of arrest warrants by the International Criminal Court (ICC) targeting in particular the Israeli Prime Minister, which sparked new reactions. Benjamin Netanyahu, his former Defense Minister, Yoav Gallant, and the head of the armed wing of the Palestinian movement, Mohammed Deif, are accused of crimes against humanity and war crimes in the conflict sparked in Gaza by the attack unprecedented by Hamas on October 7, 2023 on Israeli soil. The ICC decision sparked indignation in Israel, with Mr. Netanyahu denouncing a decision motivated by “anti-Semitic hatred”. – “Dangerous precedent” – On the ground, the Israeli army and the Shin Bet (domestic intelligence) claimed in a press release to have “eliminated five Hamas terrorists” during its raid in the Beit Lahia area, in the north of the Gaza Strip, during the night from Wednesday to Thursday. This raid left dozens dead and missing, according to Palestinian medical sources. According to the press release from the army and the Shin Bet, two of the men “eliminated” were responsible, on the day of the October 7 attack, for “murders and kidnappings” in the area of one of the kibbutz targeted by Hamas. Saying they wanted to prevent Hamas fighters from reconstituting their forces in the area, the Israeli army launched a new major offensive in the north of the Gaza Strip at the beginning of October, which has already left more than a thousand dead, according to the Ministry of Health of the Gaza Strip. Civil Defense has indicated Friday that it had recovered four bodies and injured people in a house targeted by a strike in the Choujaiya district, in the east of Gaza City. – “Innocent children” – “I lost my entire family, 10 people and I I'm the only one left,” says Belal, in a room at Al-Ahli Arab hospital where victims were transported. “There were (…) innocent children. What did they do wrong?” another man told AFP, near an unconscious boy on a hospital bed. The attack of October 7 led to the death of 1,206 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP count based on official data, including hostages killed or died in captivity. That day, 251 people were kidnapped, including 97 remain hostages in Gaza, including 34 declared dead by the army. The air and then ground offensive launched in Gaza in retaliation by Israel left at least 44,056 dead, the majority civilians, according to data from the Ministry of Health of the Hamas, deemed reliable by the UN. After more than a year of conflict, the ICC provoked Israel's fury by issuing unprecedented arrest warrants on Thursday against MM. Netanyahu and Gallant. “No scandalous anti-Israeli decision will prevent us (…) from continuing to defend our country in any way whatsoever,” Benjamin Netanyahu assured Thursday evening, after denouncing an “anti-Semitic” decision. Yoav Gallant saw “a dangerous precedent” which “encourages terrorism”. American President Joe Biden denounced a “scandalous” decision and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, unconditional support of the Israeli leader, said he wanted to invite Mr. Netanyahu in Hungary, in “challenge”. Any of the 124 member states of the ICC, including Hungary, is theoretically obliged to arrest the three officials if they enter their territory. – “Political death” of Israel -Iran for its part saw in the ICC decision “the political death of the Zionist regime” while China called on the court to have an “objective and fair position”. Hamas welcomed a “important step towards justice”, without mentioning the arrest warrant simultaneously announced by the ICC against the head of the armed wing of the movement. Israel announced this summer that it had killed Mohammed Deif, considered one of its masterminds of October 7, but Hamas has not confirmed his death. The Israeli army also launched a campaign of massive strikes on September 23 Lebanon against the pro-Iranian Hezbollah, which had opened a front to support Hamas after October 7, followed by ground operations on the 30. Israeli raids on the valley of the Bekaa, in the east of the country, and the south of Lebanon, strongholds of Hezbollah, left 52 dead on Thursday, according to the Lebanese Ministry of Health. Hezbollah for its part claimed missile fire on an air base near 'Ashdod, its first attack in the south of Israel. Israel says it wants to push Hezbollah away to allow the return of some 60,000 inhabitants of the north of the country displaced by the shots of the Lebanese Islamist movement. The violence between Israel and Hezbollah has caused at least 3,558 deaths in Lebanon since October 2023. On the Israeli side, 82 soldiers and 47 civilians have been killed in 13 months. The American president's special envoy, Amos Hochstein, visited this week in Lebanon and Israel to try to obtain a truce between the belligerents. In Lebanon, tens of thousands of inhabitants were also displaced.bur-vl/bfi
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