US Warns ICC Action on Israel Would Hurt Cease-Fire Chances

US Warns ICC Action on Israel Would Hurt Cease-Fire Chances - GlobalCurrent24.com
International News Regarding The Israel War – US Warns ICC Action on Israel Would Hurt Cease-Fire Chances
Israeli authorities looked more apprehensive that the International Criminal Court might issue arrest warrants for the country’s leaders as international criticism mounted during the Gaza conflict. According to medical statistics, 25 people were killed in a southern city by airstrikes overnight and early on Monday.
According to documents and an Associated Press reporter, nine mothers and five children were killed in Rafah, one of whom was just five days old. Israel is preparing to invade the city, despite repeated warnings from its closest ally, the United States, and others that such an attack would be disastrous for the more than a million Palestinians who are hiding there.
Meanwhile, Israeli authorities have recently mentioned an ICC investigation initiated three years ago into potential war crimes perpetrated by Israel and Palestinian terrorists dating back to the 2014 Israel-Hamas conflict. The investigation is also looking at Israel’s establishment of settlements in occupied area that the Palestinians desire for their future state.
The court made no remark on Monday and has given no indication that warrants in the case are impending.
However, Israel’s Foreign Ministry announced late Sunday that it had alerted Israeli diplomats of “rumors” that warrants might be issued against key political and military personnel. Foreign Minister Israel Katz stated that such warrants would “provide a morale boost” to Hamas and other violent organizations.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated on Friday that Israel “will never accept any attempt by the ICC to undermine its inherent right of self-defense.”
“The threat to detain troops and officials from the Middle East’s sole democracy and the world’s only Jewish state is absurd. “We will not bow to it,” he said on the social networking platform X. It was unclear what prompted the Israelis’ fears. A series of Israeli pronouncements in recent days about letting greater humanitarian supplies into Gaza appear to be intended in part at deterring potential ICC action.
ICC prosecutor Karim Khan stated during a visit to the region in December that the inquiry is “moving forward at pace, with rigor, with determination, and with an insistence that we act not on emotion but on solid evidence.”
Neither Israel nor the United States recognize the ICC’s authority, but any warrants might place Israeli officials in danger of arrest in other nations. They would also serve as a strong rebuke to Israel’s behavior at a time when pro-Palestinian demonstrations have swept throughout American college campuses.
The International Court of Justice, a different agency, is examining whether Israel committed genocide during the ongoing battle in Gaza, and any decision is anticipated to take years. Israel has denied charges of impropriety and accused both.
Israel has instead charged Hamas of genocide for the October 7 strike that sparked the war. Militants rushed through army barracks and farmland towns in southern Israel, murdering 1,200 people, the majority of whom were civilians, and seizing around 250 prisoners.
In response, Israel conducted a huge air, sea, and land attack, killing at least 34,488 Palestinians, the majority of them were women and children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which does not discriminate between civilians and fighters.
Israel accuses Hamas for the high civilian death toll, citing the terrorists’ fighting in densely populated areas. The military claims to have killed over 12,000 insurgents without presenting evidence.
The conflict has displaced almost 80% of Gaza’s 2.3 million residents, inflicted widespread devastation in multiple towns and cities, and pushed northern Gaza to the verge of starvation.
Israel has promised to escalate its ground attack to Rafah, where more than a million Palestinians have taken refuge from conflict elsewhere. Israel claims Rafah is the final Hamas stronghold, with thousands of militants stationed there.
U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration, which has offered critical military and political support for the attack, has encouraged Israel not to invade Rafah due to worries of a humanitarian disaster, which he underlined in a phone chat with Netanyahu on Sunday.
The Biden administration has until May 8 to report to Congress on whether Israel is following international law when it uses American military aid, including enabling humanitarian aid to enter the country.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken is likely to visit Israel on his current journey to the region, which began in Saudi Arabia on Monday. He said Israel could do more to enable supplies into Gaza, but the best approach to alleviate the humanitarian catastrophe is for all parties to agree to a cease-fire.
The United States, Egypt, and Qatar are urging Israel and Hamas to accept an arrangement they prepared that would liberate some of the captives and bring about a temporary truce.
After the majority of the remaining hostages were liberated in exchange for the release of Palestinian inmates last year, Hamas is still thought to be keeping roughly 100 captives and the remains of another 30.
Hamas has stated that it will not free the other captives unless there is a deal to halt the fighting. Netanyahu has rejected the proposal, stating that Israel would continue its attack until Hamas is destroyed, and all captives are restored.
At a gathering in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, Blinken urged Hamas to embrace Israel’s “extraordinarily generous” offer. “At this moment, the only thing standing between the people of Gaza and cease-fire is Hamas,” he told reporters.
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