LAST UPDATE | 30 Apr
ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER Benjamin Netanyahu has said he intends to order a military assault on the southern Palestinian city of Rafah “with or without” a ceasefire deal as Hamas continue to study a truce proposal from Israel.
Netanyahu’s comments are likely to throw a spanner in the works of the ongoing negotiations about halting the Israeli war on Gaza and exchanging captives.
“The idea that we will halt the war before achieving all of its goals is out of the question. We will enter Rafah and we will eliminate the Hamas battalions there with or without a deal, in order to achieve the total victory,” Netanyahu told representatives of hostages’ families, according to a statement issued by his office.
There has been cautious optimism over the last few days as Hamas indicated that there were “no major issues” with the Israeli proposal. But with Netanyahu saying that the Israeli military campaign will continue even if there is a ceasefire agreement, those hopes have taken a blow.
The current deal being discussed, brokered by the US, Egypt and Qatar, would see the release of dozens of hostages in exchange for a six-week halt in fighting as part of an initial phase, according to an Egyptian official and Israeli media.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu:
— Prime Minister of Israel (@IsraeliPM) April 30, 2024
"You have to hear this to believe this. The International Criminal Court in The Hague is contemplating issuing arrest warrants against senior Israeli government and military officials as war criminals. pic.twitter.com/AU1z5GeJPm
In a video address posted to X this evening, Netanyahu said the International Criminal Court (ICC) is “contemplating” issuing arrest warrants for senior Israeli government and military officials for war crimes.
He said the ICC was established “in the wake of the Holocaust committed against the Jewish people” with the purpose of preventing “future genocides”.
In his view, the court is trying to “paralyse” Israel’s “ability to defend itself”.
He went on to say that “no ICC action will impact Israel’s iron clad determination to achieve the goals of our war with Hamas terrorists”.
Airstrikes on Rafah have killed at least 22 people, including six women and five children, according to Palestinian health officials.
One of the children killed in the strikes overnight was a newborn baby who was only five days old.
“Everyone was sleeping in their beds,” said Mahmoud Abu Taha, whose cousin was killed with his wife and their year-old baby in a house where at least 10 died.
“They have nothing to do with anything.”
Israel has regularly carried out airstrikes on Rafah since the start of its war on the Palestinian territory and has threatened to launch a ground invasion of the besieged city, where around 1.4 million people have sought refuge after fleeing the Israeli assault further north.
The US and others have urged Israel not to invade the city, fearing a humanitarian catastrophe. Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said over the weekend that only the US could convince Israel not to invade Rafah and avoid what he said would be “the biggest catastrophe in the Palestinian people’s history”.
Yesterday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken began his seventh diplomatic mission to the Middle East since the latest conflict began in October.
Israel’s military campaign in Gaza has now killed more than 34,488 people since October. Two-thirds of those killed are women and children.
The war has driven around 80% of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million from their homes, caused vast destruction in towns and cities, and pushed northern Gaza to the brink of famine as Israel blocked aid from entering the enclave.
Israeli officials also are understood to be increasingly concerned that the International Criminal Court may issue arrest warrants against the country’s leaders for possible war crimes committed in the conflict, dating back to as far as the 2014 Israel-Hamas war.
AP reports that there was no indication such warrants were imminent. There was no comment from the court yesterday.
Meanwhile in The Hague, Netherlands, the International Court of Justice has dismissed a request for emergency orders against Germany in Nicaragua’s case alleging it alleging breaches of the Genocide Convention.
Nicaragua brought a case to the UN’s top court accusing Germany of complicity in genocide by supplying arms to Israel while it continues to wage war on Gaza.
The Court ruled that “circumstances were not such” to accuse Germany of violating a Genocide Convention.
Presiding judge Nawaf Salam said the circumstances presented to the court did not warrant emergency orders.
Israel is itself in the dock at the ICJ over its almost seven-month-long siege, bombardment and invasion of the Gaza Strip in Palestine. That case was brought by South African and the Court granted some, though not all, of its requests for emergency orders known as provisional measures.
The judges of the ICJ heard two days of arguments from Nicaragua and Germany and while they rejected the Nicaraguan request today, they said they remain concerned about the situation in Gaza.
With reporting from Press Association and AFP
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