The Dutch foreign minister’s trip to Israel has been cancelled, Dutch News Agency ANP reported on Thursday, citing leaked plans of the trip as the reason.
Earlier on Thursday, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants to, among others, Benjamin Netanyahu and former defence minister Yoav Gallant, which the Netherlands has said it would comply with if they came to the country.
Summary
It’s nearing 9pm in Tel Aviv, Gaza and Beirut. Here’s a recap of the latest developments:
The international criminal court (ICC) issued arrest warrants for the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and the former defence minister, Yoav Gallant, for alleged war crimes relating to the Gaza war. The chamber ruled that there were reasonable grounds to believe the senior Israeli officials bore criminal responsibility as co-perpetrators for “the war crime of starvation as a method of warfare; and the crimes against humanity of murder, persecution, and other inhumane acts”. It is the first time that leaders of a democracy and western-aligned state have been charged by the court.
The court’s top prosecutor, Karim Khan, urged the body’s 124 members to act on the arrest warrants, and called on countries that are not members of the ICC to work together towards “upholding international law”. Khan also said his investigation into the situation in Gaza, the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, would continue.
Netanyahu’s office denounced the chamber’s decision as “antisemitic”, while Gallant said it “sets a dangerous precedent against the right to self-defense and moral warfare.” Israeli leaders from across the political spectrum united to condemn the decision. Benny Gantz, a retired general and political rival to Netanyahu, condemned the ICC’s decision, saying it showed “moral blindness” and was a “shameful stain of historic proportion that will never be forgotten”. Yair Lapid, another opposition leader, called it a “prize for terror”. Far-right national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, said Israel should annex the West Bank in response to the ICC’s issuance.
The US – not an ICC member – issued a statement “fundamentally” rejecting the court’s decision. “The United States has been clear that the ICC does not have jurisdiction over this matter. In coordination with partners, including Israel, we are discussing next steps,” the US national security council said. The US has previously welcomed ICC war crimes warrants against Vladimir Putin and other Russian officials for atrocities committed in Ukraine. US Republican congressman Mike Waltz, who is president-elect Donald Trump’s pick for national security advisor in the incoming US administration, warned that “you can expect a strong response to the antisemitic bias of the ICC and UN come January,” when Trump takes office.
The EU’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, said the arrest warrants are binding for all EU member states. Italy would have to arrest Netanyahu if he came to the country, defence minister Guido Crosetto said. The Netherlands also said it is prepared to act upon the arrest warrants issued. A spokesperson for France’s foreign ministry said it supports “the action of the prosecutor of the court, which acts fully independently.”
Other countries also said they would comply with the court’s decision. The UK is expected to agree to any request from the ICC to arrest Netanyahu if he came to Britain, although Keir Starmer’s spokesperson refused to directly confirm this, saying only that it would “respect” the court’s independence. Canada will abide by all rulings issued by international courts, its prime minister Justin Trudeau said. Jordan’s foreign minister Ayman Safadi said the ICC’s decision must be respected and implemented.
The ICC also issued an arrest warrant for the Hamas military leader, Mohammed Deif. Israel claims to have killed Deif in an airstrike in July, but the court’s pre-trial chamber said it would “continue to gather information” to confirm his death.
The ICC warrants were broadly welcomed by human rights groups. Human Rights Watch said it hoped that the warrants “finally push the international community to address atrocities and secure justice for all victims in Palestine and Israel.” Amnesty International said Netanyahu is “officially a wanted man” and that the ICC decision “represents a “historic breakthrough for justice”.
At least 47 people have been killed and 22 others wounded in Israeli strikes in eastern Lebanon on Thursday, according to the governor of the Baalbek-Hermel province, Bachir Khodr. Israeli airstrikes also struck the southern suburbs of Beirut about a dozen times on Thursday, sending up clouds of debris in some of the most intense airstrikes yet, Reuters reported.
At least 44,056 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli strikes in Gaza since October 2023, the territory’s health ministry said on Thursday. That figure includes 71 deaths in the previous 24 hours, it said. More than 104,268 people have been wounded in the Gaza Strip since the war began, it said.
Israeli authorities have permitted Mazyouna Damoo, a 12-year-old Palestinian girl whose face was “ripped off” when an Israeli missile struck her home in June, to leave Gaza for medical treatment, five days after the Guardian reported that repeated requests for her urgent medical evacuation had been denied.
Updated
