JERUSALEM: France, Belgium, and Slovenia voiced support for the world’s top war crimes court and its chief prosecutor’s request for arrest warrants for leaders of Israel and Hamas, after Israel and the United States both harshly condemned the effort.
The accusations center on war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Gaza Strip and Israel. Arrest warrants were requested for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, as well as three Hamas leaders — Yahya Sinwar, Mohammed Deif and Ismail Haniyeh.
Although Netanyahu and Gallant do not face imminent arrest, the announcement Monday was a symbolic blow that deepens Israel’s isolation over the war in Gaza. Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz headed to France on Tuesday in response.
One of the main hospitals still operating in northern Gaza was forced to evacuate Tuesday after coming under fire from Israeli forces, while a second has been surrounded by troops, Palestinian Health Ministry said.
And amid months of surging violence in the occupied West Bank, Israeli forces raided a militant stronghold in the city of Jenin, killing at least seven people and wounding several others, the Health Ministry said.
Israel launched its war in Gaza after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack, in which militants stormed into southern Israel, killed about 1,200 people — mostly civilians — and abducted about 250.
At least 35,000 Palestinians have died in the war, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which doesn’t distinguish between combatants and civilians. Around 80% of the population of 2.3 million Palestinians has been displaced within the territory, often multiple times.
Hospital evacuated in northern Gaza after Israeli forces fire on it, and a second hospital is surrounded for 3 days
The Palestinian Health Ministry says one of the main hospitals still operating in northern Gaza has been evacuated after coming under fire from Israeli forces, while a second has been surrounded by troops.
The two hospitals, Kamal Adwan and Awda, are located in or near Jabalia refugee camp, where Israeli troops have been waging an intensified assault for days against Hamas fighters who the military says had regrouped there.
The ministry said Tuesday that Kamal Adwan hospital was “targeted” by Israeli troops, forcing around 150 staff and dozens of patients to evacuate the facility, including intensive care patients and infants in incubators. The ministry did not elaborate but said they fled “under fire from shelling.” The Israeli military did not immediately reply to requests for comment.
Awda hospital issued a statement Tuesday saying it had been surrounded by Israeli troops for the past three days and that an artillery shell had hit its fifth floor. On Monday, the international medical aid group Doctors Without Borders said Awda had run out of drinking water and was encircled by Israel tanks.
Awda and Kamal Adwan Hospitals were besieged by Israeli troops for days in December, causing heavy damage to both and forcing them to shut down. They resumed partial operations since then. Israel has claimed in general that Hamas uses hospitals as bases or to keep weapons, an accusation hospital staff deny.
Israel’s 7-month-old offensive in Gaza, triggered by Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack, has devastated the territory’s health sector. Around two-thirds of Gaza’s original 36 hospitals have been forced to shut down, and the rest only partially function.
