Joe Biden back in Israel for support as Zionist army’s airstrikes kill 3,500 civilians in besieged Gaza

News Network

October 18, 2023

The health ministry in the Gaza Strip says hundreds of victims are trapped under the rubble of the Ahli Arab Hospital after up to 500 people were killed in Israeli airstrikes on Tuesday.

US President Joe Biden landed just before 11 a.m. local (4 a.m. eastern) in Israel on Wednesday to signal Washington's support, his second visit to a war zone this year.

Biden, who has expressed "iron-clad" support for Israel in its war on Gaza, was welcomed on the tarmac by hardline prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The visit followed head of US Central Command Gen. Erik Kurilla's arrival in Tel Aviv for meetings with Israeli military authorities a day earlier.

Israel's military campaign had already left at least 3,000 dead inside Gaza before the hospital was destroyed.

The horror of the hospital deaths threatened to derail his high-stakes visit, with Jordan cancelling a summit where King Abdullah II had been due to host Biden, Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.

Thousands of civilians were seeking medical treatment and shelter in the hospital from relentless Israeli airstrikes when the attack took place.

The attack is the deadliest Israeli airstrike since 2008, the Palestinian Civil Defense said.

“The massacre at the Ahli Arab Hospital is unprecedented in our history. While we’ve witnessed tragedies in past wars and days, but what took place tonight is tantamount to genocide,” spokesman Mahmoud Basal said.

The media office of Hamas described the attack as a "war crime."

"The hospital was housing hundreds of sick and wounded, and people forcibly displaced from their homes" because of other strikes, a statement said.

The Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) condemned the Israeli attack as genocide.

Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas declared three days of mourning following the Israeli air strike.

Photos from the Ahli Arab Hospital showed fire engulfing the hospital halls, shattered glass and body parts scattered across the area.

Biden has strongly backed top ally Israel and its military campaign after 1,400 people were killed in Israel in a surprise operation launched by Hamas on October 7.

Entire Gaza neighborhoods have been razed and survivors are left with dwindling supplies of food, water and fuel, unable to flee the 40-kilometer long strip that has been blockaded since 2007 by Israel and Egypt.

The situation in the Gaza Strip is spiraling out of control, head of the World Health Organization (WHO) Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned on Wednesday.

"Every second we wait to get medical aid in, we lose lives," he said. "We need immediate access to start delivering life-saving supplies."

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International Criminal Court issues arrest warrants for Netanyahu, Yoav Gallant for war crimes

News Network

November 21,2024

The International Criminal Court (ICC) has issued arrest warrants for Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former minister of military affairs Yoav Gallant over war crimes against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

The court’s Pre-Trial Chamber I issued warrants of arrest for Netanyahu and Gallant "for crimes against humanity and war crimes committed from at least 8 October 2023 until at least 20 May 2024, the day the Prosecution filed the applications for warrants of arrest”, it confirmed in a statement Thursday.

It is the first instance in the court's 22-year history it has issued arrest warrants for Western-allied senior officials.

In its statement, the ICC's Pre-Trial Chamber I, a panel of three judges, said it has rejected appeals by Israel challenging its jurisdiction.

The chamber said it has decided to release the arrest warrants because "conduct similar to that addressed in the warrant of arrest appears to be ongoing", referring to Israel's ongoing onslaught on Gaza.

Netanyahu and Gallant, it said, “each bear criminal responsibility” for “the war crime of starvation as a method of warfare; and the crimes against humanity of murder, persecution, and other inhumane acts,” as well as “intentionally directing an attack against the civilian population.”

All 124 states that signed the Rome Statute, the treaty that established the court, are now under an obligation to arrest the wanted individuals and hand them over to the ICC in the Hague.

The court relies on the cooperation of member states to arrest and surrender suspects. The Netherlands' foreign minister quickly said his country was prepared to enforce the warrants while 93 nations earlier reiterated their support for the ICC.

Triestino Mariniello, a lawyer representing Palestinian victims at the ICC, called the warrants "a historic decision".

He noted that the court had endured "pressure and threats of sanctions" from the US government, but acted nonetheless.

As expected, the Tel Aviv regime rejected the rulings, with its security minister Itamar Ben Gvir calling the warrants “anti-Semitic through and through.”

The ICC said Israel’s acceptance of the court’s jurisdiction was not required.

Israel and its major ally, the United States, are not members of the court.

Israel unleashed its bloody Gaza onslaught on October 7, 2023. So far, it has killed at least 43,985 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and injured 104,092 others, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.

Israel faces an ongoing South Africa-led genocide case at the International Court of Justice (ICJ).

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