May 21, 2024 10:14 AM

ICC prosecutor seeks arrest warrants for Israel’s Netanyahu and Hamas leaders

The International Criminal Court's prosecutor said on Monday he had requested arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, his defence chief and three Hamas leaders over alleged war crimes. ICC prosecutor Karim Khan said in a statement issued after more than seven months of war in Gaza that he had reasonable grounds to believe the five men "bear criminal responsibility" for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity. He said he had applied for an arrest warrant for Isra...

May 20, 2024 6:10 PM

Israel vows to broaden Rafah sweep amid heavy fighting in parts of Gaza

Israel made a new push in central Gaza on Monday, bombarded towns in the north of the Strip and said it intended to broaden its military operation in Rafah despite U.S. warnings of the risk of mass casualties in the southern city. Gaza medics said at least 23 people had been killed in the latest fighting, and residents said battles were intense in Jabalia in the north of the Palestinian enclave. Israeli tanks also carried out a limited incursion into areas of Wadi Al-Salqa and Al-Karara near D...

May 17, 2024 6:26 PM

Fierce fighting in northern Gaza as Israel defends itself at World Court

Israeli forces battled Hamas fighters in the narrow alleyways of Jabalia in northern Gaza on Friday in some of the fiercest engagements since they returned to the area a week ago, while in the south militants attacked tanks massing around Rafah. Residents said Israeli armour had thrust as far as the market at the heart of Jabalia, the largest of Gaza's eight historic refugee camps, and that bulldozers were demolishing homes and shops in the path of the advance. As fighting raged in the north a...

May 16, 2024 4:07 PM

Israel targets Hamas stronghold in north Gaza, pounds Rafah without advancing

Israel's tanks pushed into the heart of Jabalia in northern Gaza on Thursday, facing anti-tank rockets and mortar bombs from militants concentrated there, while in the south, its forces pounded Rafah without advancing, Palestinian residents and militants said. The slow progress of Israel's offensive, more than seven months after it was prompted by Hamas' deadly cross-border raid, highlighted the difficulty of achieving Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's aim of eradicating the militant group. ...

May 15, 2024 5:17 PM

Fighting intensifies between Israel and Hamas-led militants in north and south Gaza

Israeli troops fought militants across Gaza on Wednesday, including in the southern city of Rafah that had been a refuge for civilians, in an upsurge of the more than seven-month war that has killed tens of thousands of Palestinians. Antagonism between Israel and the United Nations worsened as the Israeli army sought an explanation for footage showing armed men next to U.N. Palestinian relief agency vehicles. Separately, the U.N. said it was investigating an unidentified strike that killed...

May 14, 2024 3:22 PM

Israeli tanks push into Gaza’s Rafah, as displaced civilians flee again

Israeli tanks forged deeper into eastern Rafah, reaching some residential districts on Tuesday, stepping up an offensive in the southern border city where more than a million people had been sheltering after being displaced in seven months of war. Israel's international allies and aid groups have repeatedly urged against a ground incursion into refugee-packed Rafah, warning of a potential humanitarian catastrophe. Qatar's Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani said Israel's op...

September 16, 2024 6:08 PM

“Simply unacceptable”: India condemns dire humanitarian crisis in Gaza as Israel-Hamas war intensifies

As Israel's military action in Gaza against Hamas escalates, India has strongly condemned the civilian deaths in the ongoing conflict and said that the resulting humanitarian crisis in the region is "simply unacceptable." "The conflict in Gaza has been going on for over seven months, and the humanitarian crisis it has triggered has been increasing. There is also the potential for growing instability in the region and beyond. In this context, we view the UNSC's adoption of resolution 2728 as a p...

May 13, 2024 4:04 PM

Israeli forces step up attacks on Gaza’s Jabalia camp, Rafah

Israeli tanks, under cover from heavy fire from air and ground, pushed further into Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip on Monday, residents and Hamas media said, while airstrikes hammered Rafah in the south. In Jabalia, tanks were trying to advance towards the heart of the camp, the biggest of Gaza's eight historic refugee camps. Residents said tank shells were landing at the centre of the camp and that air strikes had destroyed clusters of houses. Israeli troops forced hundreds of Palestinian...

May 12, 2024 6:36 PM

Protesters return to streets across Israel, demanding hostage release

Thousands of Israelis took to the streets on Saturday demanding that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government do more to secure the release of hostages being held in the Gaza Strip by Islamist group Hamas. Family members of the hostages, carrying pictures of their loved ones still in captivity, joined the crowds that demonstrated in Tel Aviv. One of them was Naama Weinberg, whose cousin Itai Svirsky was abducted during Hamas' Oct. 7 assault on Israeli towns and, according to Israeli auth...

May 12, 2024 1:37 PM

Israel orders Palestinians to evacuate from more areas of Gaza’s Rafah

Israel called on Saturday for Palestinians in more areas of Gaza's southern city of Rafah to evacuate and head to what it calls an expanded humanitarian area in Al-Mawasi, in a further indication that the military is pressing ahead with its plans for a ground attack on Rafah. The Israeli military also called on residents and displaced people in the Jabalia area of northern Gaza to clear out, saying it was returning to operate there after it noticed Hamas trying to re-establish its...