Israel’s deadly siege of Gaza Strip enters seventh month after Hamas’ Oct 7 attack
UN says half of Gaza population experiencing “catastrophic” hunger as threat of famine looms
72pc of enclave’s residential buildings destroyed, reconstruction to cost up to $40bn
Israel seizes Rafah crossing amid global outcry
Alarm in Israel at possible ICC legal action over Gaza atrocities
Scores of graduating students staged a walkout from Yale University’s commencement exercises on Monday, protesting the Israeli offensive in Gaza, Yale’s financial ties to weapons makers and its response to pro-Palestinian demonstrations on the Ivy League campus, Reuters reports.
The walkout began as Yale President Peter Salovey started to announce the traditional college-by-college presentation of candidates for degrees on the grounds of Yale’s Old Campus, filled with thousands of graduates in their caps and gowns.
At least 150 students seated near the front of the audience stood up together, turned their backs to the stage and paraded out of the ceremony through Phelps Gate, retracing their steps during the processional into the yard.
Many of the protesters carried small banners with such slogans as “Books not bombs” and “Divest from war.” Some wore red-colored latex gloves symbolizing bloodied hands.
Other signs read: “Drop the charges” and “Protect free speech” in reference to 45 people arrested in a police crackdown last month on demonstrations in and around the New Haven, Connecticut, campus.
The walkout drew a chorus of cheers from fellow students in the crowd, but the protest was otherwise peaceful, without disruption. No mention of it was made from the stage.
Palestinian health officials said Israeli forces killed seven Palestinians during a raid in the occupied West Bank city of Jenin, where the military said it had launched a counterterrorism operation, AFP reports.
The Palestinian health ministry in Ramallah said nine more people had been wounded, including two who were in critical condition.
The Israeli military said in a statement that troops had launched a “counterterrorism operation in Jenin and they were fighting with armed men”, without providing further details.
Palestinian official news agency Wafa reported that among those killed was a surgeon, Usaeed Jabareen, from the Jenin government hospital.
A school teacher and a student were also killed, Wafa reported, quoting hospital director Wissam Bakr.
Following the raid, all schools in Jenin and in the adjacent refugee camp had been evacuated, Wafa said.
There is no end to the bloodshed in Gaza as dozens of people have been killed by Israeli air attacks in Jabalia in the north, as well as in Rafah in the south.
In one incident, an Israeli attack on the Jabalia refugee camp ripped victims to pieces, leaving “dismembered heads on the streets”, witnesses and emergency crews have recounted.
Watch the report by Al Jazeera here:
The rights organisations Al-Haq, Al Mezan, and the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights said that ICC prosecutor Karim Khan’s decision to file an application for arrest warrants against Israeli leaders is “a crucial step” towards ending impunity in Israel’s onslaught on Gaza, Al Jazeera reports.
In a statement, the three organisations said the ICC announcement follows after “tireless efforts by Palestinian and international civil society organisations demanding the issuance of arrest warrants” for members of Israel’s war cabinet.
“While we welcome the issuing of charges for crimes against humanity, there is also a public catalogue of genocidal statements of intent to destroy Palestinians in Gaza, including through the intentional denial of aid,” the organisations said.
“For these reasons, genocide as an additional crime should be included in an amendment to the charges,” they added.
The two reservists — one serving with the Givati Brigade and another with a logistics group — suffered serious injuries in fighting on Monday in the south of the Gaza Strip, the military said, Al Jazeera reports.
Both were evacuated for treatment in Israel.
As of Monday, based on official Israeli figures, 282 soldiers have been killed and 1,745 injured in fighting in Gaza — or along the territory’s border with Israel —since the start of the most recent onslaught on the Palestinian territory.
Israel and Hamas, engaged in heavy fighting in the Gaza Strip, both angrily rejected on Monday moves to arrest their leaders for war crimes made before an international court, AFP reports.
The International Criminal Court’s prosecutor Karim Khan said he had applied for arrest warrants for top Israeli and Hamas leaders over the conflict.
Israel slammed as a “historical disgrace” the demand targeting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, while the Palestinian militant group Hamas said it “strongly condemns” the move.
Israel’s top ally the United States joined the condemnation, while France said it supported the court’s independence and its “fight against impunity”.
Netanyahu said he rejected “with disgust The Hague prosecutor’s comparison between democratic Israel and the mass murderers of Hamas”.
Khan said in a statement that he was seeking warrants against the Israeli leaders for crimes including “wilful killing”, “extermination and/or murder”, and “starvation”.
He said Israel had committed “crimes against humanity” during the war, started by Hamas’s unprecedented October 7 attack, as part “of a widespread and systematic attack against the Palestinian civilian population”.
The US Central Command (Centcom) has said more than 569 metric tons of humanitarian assistance has been delivered so far across a temporary floating pier to Gaza, but not all the aid has reached warehouses, Reuters reports.
Aid deliveries began arriving at a US-built pier on Friday as Israel comes under growing global pressure to allow more supplies into the besieged coastal enclave.
The UN said that 10 truckloads of food aid — transported from the pier site by UN contractors — were received on Friday at a World Food Programme warehouse in Deir El Balah in Gaza.
But on Saturday, only five truckloads made it to the warehouse after 11 others were cleaned out by Palestinians during the journey through an area that a UN official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said has been hard to access with humanitarian aid.
The UN did not receive any aid from the pier on Sunday or Monday.
France said it supported the independence of the International Criminal Court, whose prosecutor has requested arrest warrants for leaders from Israel, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and Hamas, AFP reports.
“France supports the International Criminal Court, its independence, and the fight against impunity in all situations,” its foreign ministry said in a statement.
The ministry “condemned the anti-Semitic massacres perpetrated by Hamas” during the group’s attack on Israel on October 7, which was “accompanied by acts of torture and sexual violence”.
It also said it had warned Israel “of the need for strict compliance with international humanitarian law, and in particular of the unacceptable level of civilian casualties in the Gaza Strip and inadequate humanitarian access”.
The International Criminal Court’s prosecutor Karim Khan said on Monday he had applied for arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Defence Minister Yoav Gallant for crimes including “willful killing”, “extermination and/or murder”, and “starvation” during the offensive in Gaza.
He said Israel had committed “crimes against humanity”, and accused it “of a widespread and systematic attack against the Palestinian civilian population”. Khan also said the leaders of Palestinian group Hamas, including Qatar-based Ismail Haniyeh and Gaza chief Yahya Sinwar, “bear criminal responsibility” for actions committed during the October 7 attack.
These included “taking hostages”, “rape and other acts of sexual violence”, and “torture”, he said.
“International law and the laws of armed conflict apply to all,” Khan said. “No foot soldier, no commander, no civilian leader — no one — can act with impunity.”
US President Joe Biden slammed the International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor’s application for arrest warrants for senior Israeli officials including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, calling the move “outrageous”, Reuters reports.
“And let me be clear: whatever this prosecutor might imply, there is no equivalence — none — between Israel and Hamas. We will always stand with Israel against threats to its security.” Biden said in a statement.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken denounced as “shameful” a bid by the International Criminal Court prosecutor to arrest Israeli leaders, rejecting the court’s authority and saying the move put ceasefire efforts at risk, AFP reports.
“We reject the prosecutor’s equivalence of Israel with Hamas. It is shameful,” Blinken said in a statement.
Balkees Jarrah, associate international justice director at Human Rights Watch (HRW), says Khan’s decision to seek arrest warrants “reaffirms the crucial role” of the ICC, Al Jazeera reports.
“Victims of serious abuses in Israel and Palestine have faced a wall of impunity for decades. This principled first step by the prosecutor opens the door to those responsible for the atrocities committed in recent months to answer for their actions at a fair trial,” Jarrah said in a statement.
“ICC member countries should stand ready to resolutely protect the ICC’s independence as hostile pressure is likely to increase while the ICC judges consider Khan’s request.”
Democracy for the Arab World Now (Dawn) has also urged the US to suspend all arms transfers to Israel, “given the ICC’s conclusion that Israeli officials at the highest levels are engaging in war crimes for which the court is seeking their arrest”, Al Jazeera reports.
“US officials involved in approving and sending additional weapons to Israel may find themselves next in line facing ICC arrest warrants,” said Raed Jarrar, Dawn’s advocacy director.
Following Khan’s application for arrest warrants, a panel of pre-trial judges will determine whether the evidence supports their issuing.
Sarah Leah Whitson, Dawn’s executive director, also called for warrants to indict Israeli officials for Israel’s ongoing settlement enterprise, which are also war crimes under the Rome Statute.
“Any effort to ‘balance’ warrants against Israeli officials with an equal number of warrants against Palestinian officials would be an embarrassing concession to political calculations,” she said.
A spokesperson for UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has denounced requests from the ICC prosecutor for arrest warrants for Netanyahu, Gallant and three Hamas leaders, Al Jazeera reports.
“This action is not helpful in relation to reaching a pause in the fighting, getting hostages out or getting humanitarian aid in,” the spokesperson said.
Gazans have spared little thought for Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi killed in a helicopter crash, saying he had failed to ease the suffering in the conflict-ridden Palestinian territory, AFP reports.
Gazans in the central city of Deir al-Balah, an area which has been hit by fighting between Hamas and Israeli troops since the October 7 attacks, told AFP that Raisi’s legacy in the Palestinian territory had been tarnished by inaction over their plight.
“He never supported us, never kept his promises, never called for a ceasefire, and never stood by us. He does not concern us at all,” said Naji Khodeir, a resident of the city, which now hosts large numbers of Gazans fleeing fighting further south.
“He means nothing to us and nothing to Gaza,” said Bilal Khodary, a displaced Gazan.
Gazans said they were more concerned with their dire humanitarian situation.
“I only grieve for my people who die every day, for the thousands of victims and martyrs who are falling, and for the fact that no one cares about us,” said Roba al-Azaiza, a Deir al-Balah resident.
“With all this destruction and devastation we’ve faced, no country has paid attention to us,” said Hossam Abdallah.
“Why should I care about this man when he has only brought us ruin? “
The International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor’s office has requested arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, his defence minister and three Hamas leaders for alleged war crimes, Reuters reports.
Here are some reactions to the decision:
Senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri said the decision, “equates the victim with the executioner” and encourages Israel to continue its “war of extermination” in Gaza.
Israeli War Cabinet Minister Benny Gantz said, “Drawing parallels between the leaders of a democratic country determined to defend itself from despicable terror to leaders of a blood-thirsty terror organisation (Hamas) is a deep distortion of justice and blatant moral bankruptcy.”
Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid called the decision to seek arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Defence Minister Yoav Gallant “a disaster”.
Israeli finance minister Bezazel Smotrich called the decision a “show of hypocrisy and Jew-hatred”. “Arrest warrants against them are arrest warrants against us all,” he added.
Wasel Abu Youssef, a member of the Palestinian Liberation Organisation’s Executive Committee, said, “The Palestinian people have the right to defend themselves … The ICC is required to issue arrest warrants against Israeli officials who are pursuing crimes of genocide in the Gaza Strip.”
The health ministry in Gaza has said that at least 35,562 people have been killed in the territory during more than seven months of fighting between Israel and Hamas, AFP reports.
The toll includes 106 deaths over the past 24 hours, a ministry statement said, adding that 79,652 people have been wounded in the Gaza Strip since October 7.
International Criminal Court (ICC) Prosecutor Karim A.A. Khan has sought arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Yoav Gallant for “criminal responsibility” for war crimes and crimes against humanity on Palestinian territory.
A statement by the ICC prosecutor says, “We submit that the crimes against humanity charged were committed as part of a widespread and systematic attack against the Palestinian civilian population pursuant to state policy.”
It added that the evidence collected by his office “shows that Israel has intentionally and systematically deprived the civilian population in all parts of Gaza of objects indispensable to human survival”.
“No foot soldier, no commander, no civilian leader — no one — can act with impunity.”
The alleged crimes include:
The office of the International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor has said it is seeking arrest warrants against three leading Hamas leaders for their alleged roles in the October 7 attacks in Israel, war crimes and crimes against humanity.
In his statement, ICC Prosecutor Karim A.A. Khan said he had “reasonable grounds to believe” that Yahya Sinwar, Mohammed Diab Ibrahim Al-Masri, and Ismail Haniyeh “bear criminal responsibility” for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Israel and the State of Palestine.
“As part of our investigations, my office has interviewed victims and survivors, including former hostages and eyewitnesses from six major attack locations: Kfar Aza; Holit; the location of the Supernova Music Festival; Be’eri; Nir Oz; and Nahal Oz,” the statement said, adding that the probe relied on various evidence, including photos, videos and Hamas members’ statements.
“Speaking with survivors, I heard how the love within a family, the deepest bonds between a parent and a child, were contorted to inflict unfathomable pain through calculated cruelty and extreme callousness. These acts demand accountability,” Khan stated.
Israel intends to broaden its military operation in Rafah, Defence Minister Yoav Gallant has told a senior aide to US President Joe Biden, who has warned against major action in the southern Gazan city that may risk mass civilian casualties, Reuters reports.
After weeks of public disagreements with Washington over the Rafah planning, Israel on May 6 ordered Palestinian civilians to evacuate parts of the city and began troop and tank incursions.
“We are committed to broadening the ground operation in Rafah to the end of dismantling Hamas and recovering the hostages,” a statement from Gallant’s office quoted him as telling visiting US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan.
There was no immediate US comment on the Gallant talks.
The statement from Gallant’s office said he “presented to (National Security) Adviser Sullivan the provisions Israel implemented for evacuating the population from the Rafah area and for setting up the appropriate humanitarian response”.
The UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) has estimated more than 810,000 people have fled Rafah in the past two weeks as the exodus continues.
In a post on X, the agency said: “Every time families are displaced, their lives are at serious risk. People are forced to leave everything behind looking for safety. But there’s no safe zone.”
Israel intends to broaden its military sweep of the southern Gazan city of Rafah, Defence Minister Yoav Gallant told visiting US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, Reuters reports.
“We are committed to broadening the ground operation in Rafah to the end of dismantling Hamas and recovering the hostages,” a statement from Gallant’s office quoted him as saying during the meeting.
The Israeli army has said it killed two Hamas officials who served in the police forces in Gaza in air strikes, Al Jazeera reports.
In a statement on X, the army said Zaher al-Houli, a senior police officer who works in central Gaza camps, was targeted in a strike on Sunday.
A separate attack killed Rami Khalil Faki, who the Israeli military claims is a member of Hamas’s military wing, and a senior officer in the Nuseirat police in central Gaza.
Faki’s deputy and four other Hamas members were killed in the attack that took place on Saturday, it added.
Israel was not involved in the death of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi in a helicopter crash that also killed several members of his entourage, an Israeli official told Reuters.
“It wasn’t us,” said the official, who requested anonymity.
The Israeli forces detained three Palestinians in Ramallah’s Deir Jarir town in the occupied West Bank on Monday morning, according to Wafa news agency.
The detentions were carried out in the al-Tira neighbourhood of Budrus village.
Israeli troops also stormed and searched several homes in the town of Silwad.
There is no political will to reach a ceasefire agreement in Gaza while military operations continue on the ground, Qatar’s Minister of State at the Foreign Ministry, Mohammed Al-Khulaifi, has said, Reuters reports.
