In the Gaza Strip, the devastating war between Israel and Hamas continues unabated on Tuesday, May 21, the day after the announcement of the arrest warrants required at the International Criminal Court (ICC) against Israeli leaders and leaders of the Palestinian Islamist movement for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity.
To date, the health ministry in the Gaza Strip, administered by Hamas, has recorded 35,647 deaths since the start of the war. In twenty-four hours, the deaths of 85 additional people were recorded, according to a press release from the ministry, which also reported 79,852 injured. 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.
The Palestinian Authority announced Tuesday morning that seven people had been killed by Israeli fire in Jenin, a city in the northern occupied West Bank. The Israeli army had communicated a little earlier on its Telegram account, without further details, that Israeli forces had “begun an anti-terrorist operation in Jenin by attacking armed men in the area”.
The official Palestinian agency WAFA identified one of the dead as Oussaïd Jabarine, a surgeon at the city’s government hospital. Among the dead also include a teacher and a minor, schoolboy or college student, according to information from the agency.
On Tuesday morning, civil defense reported three deaths after an Israeli airstrike hit the Al-Kahlout family home in Beit Lahya, in the northern Gaza Strip. Witnesses reported Israeli artillery fire in several areas of Jabaliya.
In the center of the Palestinian territory, airstrikes targeted the Al-Boureij 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, communicated that its planes had struck around 70 targets over the past twenty-four hours in the Gaza Strip, saying it had “eliminated several” fighters in the South, the Center and in Jabaliya, in the northern Palestinian territory.
In Jabaliya, the World Health Organization reported that Al-Awda Hospital had been “under siege” for two days, with 170 patients and staff trapped there, reporting sniper fire and a rocket impact.
Israeli officials seized a camera and broadcast equipment belonging to the Associated Press (AP) in southern Israel on Tuesday, accusing the news agency of violating a new media law by providing footage to Al- Jazira, Qatari channel closed in Israel.
“The Associated Press condemns in the strongest terms the Israeli government’s actions to cut off our long-running live broadcast showing a view of Gaza and seize AP equipment,” said Lauren Easton, vice -president of corporate communications of the Agency, on X, .
“The shutdown was not based on the content of the stream, but rather the Israeli government’s misuse of the country’s new law on foreign broadcasters. We urge the Israeli authorities to return our equipment and allow us to immediately restore our live broadcast so that we can continue to provide this important visual journalism to thousands of media outlets around the world. »
The White House spokesperson said on Tuesday that it was “obviously concerning” that Israel cut off the live video from the American agency Associated Press (AP) on Gaza. “We are going to look into [this subject],” said Karine Jean-Pierre.
“ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan’s attempt to turn the situation around will not succeed. The parallel he established between the terrorist organization Hamas and the State of Israel is despicable,” Yoav Gallant said in a statement, referring to the arrest warrants also requested against leaders of the Palestinian Islamist movement. “Prosecutor Karim Khan’s attempt to deny the State of Israel the right to defend itself and secure the release of hostages held in Gaza must be explicitly rejected,” Gallant continued.
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.” The ICC prosecutor also requested warrants against three senior Hamas officials – Ismaïl Haniyeh, Mohammed Deif and Yahya Sinouar – on charges including “extermination”, “rape and other forms of sexual violence” and “taking of hostages as a war crime” linked to the attack by the Islamist movement on October 7, 2023 in Israel.
Senior Israeli officials, including President Isaac Herzog, criticized the ICC prosecutor’s approach. The French right and extreme right as well as Italy share this criticism.
“Frankly, we lack words to describe what is happening in Gaza. We described it as a catastrophe, a nightmare, hell on earth. It’s all that, and worse,” Edem Wosornu, director of operations for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), summarized Monday before the UN Security Council. “Living conditions continue to deteriorate due to intense fighting, particularly in Jabaliya and eastern Rafah, as well as Israeli bombardment from the air, land and sea,” according to Wosornu.
She noted that 1.1 million people in the Gaza Strip face “catastrophic levels of hunger.” “Since October 2023, 75% of the population of [the Strip] Gaza – or 1.1 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.