No respite in Gaza after request for arrest warrants from the ICC denounced by Israel and Hamas

The devastating war knows no respite Tuesday. Gaza between Israel and Hamas who denounced the arrest warrants requested from the the International Criminal Court (ICC) against Israeli leaders and the Palestinian Islamist movement for war crimes and crimes against humanity. presumed.

The deadly violence also spread to the West Bank where the Israeli army said it was carrying out a new operation in the city of Jenin, a stronghold of Palestinian armed groups fighting against the Israeli occupation.

On Monday, ICC prosecutor Karim Khan said he had requested arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his defense minister, Yoav Gallant, for crimes including “starving deliberately killing civilians”, “intentional homicide” and “extermination and/or murder”. French diplomacy has indicated that it “supports the International Criminal Court, its independence and the fight against impunity in all situations”.

The accusations brought against Hamas leaders also targeted by this request for arrest warrants, notably its Gaza leader Yahya Sinouar, include “extermination”, “rape and other forms of sexual violence” and “hostage-taking as as a war crime”.

The Israeli Prime Minister “rejected with disgust the Hague prosecutor's comparison between Israel”, a “democratic” country, and “the mass murderers of Hamas”, his Defense Minister denouncing a “despicable” decision.< /p>

The Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas for its part denounced “the attempts of the prosecutor (…) to assimilate the victim to the executioner”.

– “No words” –

In the Gaza Strip besieged by Israel, more than seven months of a murderous war have also caused a humanitarian catastrophe with the majority of the 2.4 million inhabitants threatened with famine and three quarters displaced, according to the UN.

A Palestinian child injured near his house hit by Israeli fire in Rafah, May 20, 2024 © AFP – –

“Frankly, we lack words to describe what is happening in Gaza. We have described it as a catastrophe, a nightmare, hell on earth. It is all of these, and worse” , summarized Edem Wosornu, director of operations for the UN Office of Humanitarian Affairs (Ocha), on Monday before the UN Security Council.

The war was sparked by a Hamas attack on Israeli soil on October 7, which resulted in the death of more than 1,170 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP report based on official Israeli data. Of the 252 people then taken as hostages, 124 are still held in Gaza, including 37 dead according to the army.

Israel, which has sworn to destroy Hamas, that he considers terrorist along with the United States and the European Union, launched a devastating offensive in the besieged Gaza Strip in retaliation, resulting in the deaths of at least 35,562 people, most of them civilians, according to reports. data Monday from the Health Ministry of the Hamas-led government of the Palestinian territory.

A strategic military road in the center of the Gaza Strip, controlled by Israel © AFP – Nalini LEPETIT-CHELLA, Sabrina BLANCHARD

On Tuesday morning again, Civil Defense reported three deaths after an Israeli airstrike hit the Al-Kahlout family home in Beit Lahia, in the north of the Gaza Strip, where Witnesses reported Israeli artillery fire in several areas of Jabalia.

In the center of the Palestinian territory, airstrikes targeted the Al-Bureij camp, according to witnesses. And in the south, Israeli warships fired on targets in Khan Yunis, while doctors at the European Hospital reported several injuries after an airstrike hit the Abu Tir family home.

The Israeli army, for its part, indicated that its planes had struck around 70 targets over the past 24 hours in the Gaza Strip, saying they had “eliminated several” fighters in the south, center and Jabalia in the north of the Palestinian territory.

– 75% of the displaced population –

Displaced Palestinians wait for water in Deir el-Balah, Gaza Strip, Palestinian Territories, May 21, 2024 © AFP – –

In the Gaza Strip, since Israel took control on the Palestinian side of the Rafah border post with Egypt on May 7, the delivery of humanitarian aid has almost stopped. stop. This passage is crucial for aid, particularly fuel, essential for hospitals and humanitarian logistics.

“Living conditions continue to deteriorate due to the fighting “intense attacks, particularly in Jabalia and eastern Rafah, as well as Israeli bombardments from the air, land and sea,” according to Ms. Wosornu.

Elle stressed that 1.1 million people in the Gaza Strip face “catastrophic levels of hunger.” “Since October 2023, 75% of Gaza's population – or 1.7 million people – have been forcibly displaced within Gaza, many up to four or five times, in part due to repeated calls to evacuate issued by the Israeli army,” she added.

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