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Netanyahu says ICC warrant won’t stop Israel defending itself

Netanyahu says ICC warrant won’t stop Israel defending itself
A huge crowd of people waits amid the destruction for fresh bread outside a bakery in the southern Gaza city of Khan Yunis on Nov. 20, 2024. (AFP)
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Updated 21 November 2024

Netanyahu says ICC warrant won’t stop Israel defending itself

Netanyahu says ICC warrant won’t stop Israel defending itself
  • “No outrageous anti-Israel decision will prevent us — and it will not prevent me — from continuing to defend our country in every way,” Netanyahu said
  • The premier is accused alongside his former defense minister Yoav Gallant of “war crimes” and “crimes against humanity“

JERUSALEM: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday that an arrest warrant issued against him by the International Criminal Court over his conduct of the Gaza war would not stop him defending Israel.
“No outrageous anti-Israel decision will prevent us — and it will not prevent me — from continuing to defend our country in every way,” Netanyahu said in a video statement. “We will not yield to pressure,” he vowed.
The premier is accused alongside his former defense minister Yoav Gallant of “war crimes” and “crimes against humanity” for Israel’s actions in Gaza.
He described Thursday’s decision as a “dark day in the history of nations.”
“The International Criminal Court in The Hague, which was established to protect humanity, has today become the enemy of humanity,” he said, adding that the accusations were “utterly baseless.”
Israel has been fighting in Gaza since October 2023, when a cross-border attack by Hamas militants resulted in the deaths of 1,206 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.
Its retaliatory campaign has led to the deaths of 44,056 people in Gaza, most of them civilians, according to figures from the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry which the United Nations considers reliable.
UN agencies have warned of a severe humanitarian crisis in Gaza, including possible famine, due to a lack of food and medicines.
The court said it had found “reasonable grounds” to believe Netanyahu and Gallant bore “criminal responsibility” for the war crime of starvation as a method of warfare, as well as the crimes against humanity of murder, persecution, and other inhumane acts.
Netanyahu said the court was accusing Israel of “fictitious crimes,” while ignoring “the real war crimes, horrific war crimes being committed against us and against many others around the world.”
In addition to Netanyahu and Gallant, the court also issued an arrest warrant for Hamas military wing chief Mohammed Deif, who Israel said was killed in an air strike last July.
Hamas has never confirmed his death.
Netanyahu mocked the court’s decision to issue a warrant for “the body of Mohammed Deif.”


Sudan’s RSF agrees to US proposal for humanitarian ceasefire

Updated 9 sec ago

Sudan’s RSF agrees to US proposal for humanitarian ceasefire

Sudan’s RSF agrees to US proposal for humanitarian ceasefire
Trump’s administration has said it was working toward ending fighting in Sudan
“The Rapid Support Forces also looks forward to implementing the agreement,” an RSF statement said

WASHINGTON: Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces agreed to a proposal from the United States and Arab powers for a humanitarian ceasefire and is open to talks on a cessation of hostilities, it said on Thursday in a statement.
Both the RSF and the Sudanese army have agreed to various ceasefire proposals during their two-and-a-half-year-old war, though none have succeeded. US President Donald Trump’s administration has said it was working toward ending fighting in Sudan.
The announcement, which the Sudanese army did not immediately respond to, comes less than two weeks after the RSF took over the famine-stricken city of Al-Fashir, consolidating its control over the vast, western region of Darfur.
“The Rapid Support Forces also looks forward to implementing the agreement and immediately commencing discussions on the arrangements for a cessation of hostilities and the fundamental principles guiding the political process in Sudan,” an RSF statement said.
Earlier this week, the army-led Security and Defense Council met but did not give a definitive answer to the proposal, though influential leaders and allies within the army have expressed their disapproval.
A US State Department spokesperson on Thursday said the United States continued to engage directly with the parties to facilitate a humanitarian truce.
“We urge both sides to move forward in response to the US-led effort to conclude a humanitarian truce, given the immediate urgency of de-escalating the violence and ending the suffering of the Sudanese people,” the spokesperson said.
The United States, ֱ, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt called in September for a three-month humanitarian truce in Sudan to be followed by a permanent ceasefire.
Witnesses say the RSF killed and abducted civilians during and after its capture of Al-Fashir, including in summary executions, leading to international concern.
Its leader called on fighters to protect civilians and said violations would be prosecuted.
The war between the Sudanese army and the RSF erupted in April 2023 when the two forces, then partners in power, clashed over plans to integrate their forces.
The conflict has devastated Sudan, killing tens of thousands of people, causing hunger to spread across the country and displacing millions of people.