Footage aired by Al Jazeera showed stray dogs scavenging the bodies of lifeless Palestinians in northern Gaza, with Israeli soldiers present in the vicinity.
The distressing scenes prompted widespread outrage, with Palestinian resistance group Hamas condemning the incidents as emblematic of the “cruelty, sadism, and inhumanity” of the Israeli military and its leadership.
مشاهد الكلاب الضالة التي تنهش جثامين الشهداء في شمال قطاع غزة، وسط تزايد أعداد الضحايا وصعوبة الوصول إليهم بسبب استمرار استهداف جيش الاحتلال الإسرائيلي للطواقم الطبية والدفاع المدني ومنعهم من أداء مهامهم.
In a statement released, Tuesday, Hamas described the video as further evidence of a “systematic extermination” campaign in Gaza, where humanitarian teams have been denied access to retrieve bodies and assist victims. The video depicted stray dogs mauling bodies in areas where rescue efforts have been obstructed.
The group also accused the Israeli army of deliberately attacking civilians and targeting vital infrastructure, citing ongoing strikes on Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahia town. These strikes have damaged water tanks, fuel supplies, and oxygen facilities essential to medical care.
Hamas labeled the Israeli acts as “war crimes committed openly before the world” and called for urgent international intervention to halt genocidal actions in Gaza.
The group urged the international community to mobilize humanitarian aid and ensure the protection of civilians, emphasizing the need for accountability for war crimes committed during Israel’s ongoing genocide according to Anadolu.
📽️💔💔🇵🇸Special scenes of stray dogs mauling the bodies of martyrs in the northern Gaza Strip
Watch, you unjust world. Watch, you lying and hypocritical international institutions. Watch, you devoid of humanity and conscience. pic.twitter.com/V1nkIEXDFo
Since 5 October, Israel launched a large-scale ground operation in northern Gaza to allegedly prevent Hamas from regrouping. Palestinians, however, accuse Israel of seeking to occupy the area and forcibly displace its residents.
Since then, no sufficient humanitarian aid, including food, medicine, and fuel, was allowed into the area, leaving the remaining population there on the verge of imminent famine.
The onslaught was the latest episode in a brutal Israeli war on the Gaza Strip that has killed more than 45,000 people, mostly women and children, since Oct. 7, 2023.
Last month, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on Gaza.
The UK government granted a “special mission certificate” to the Israeli Army Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi affording him “temporary diplomatic immunity” for the duration of his visit to Britain last month, Declassified UK has revealed.
In response to a parliamentary question from Labor MP Brian Leishman, the Foreign Office confirmed on Wednesday that it “gave consent for special mission status for the visit to the UK on 24-25 November of Lieutenant General Herzl Halevi, Chief of the General Staff of the Israel Defense Forces, and delegation.”
👉NEW — Israeli army chief given special immunity to visit Britain
Exclusive: IDF chief of staff Herzi Halevi was given a “special mission” certificate for his trip to the UK last month, allowing him to visit without fear of arrest.https://t.co/zN38LtJHWi
Halevi met with senior UK officials from the Defense Ministry and Foreign Office to discuss “the ongoing conflicts in Lebanon and Gaza,” in addition to meeting with Britain’s attorney general, Richard Hermer, the report said.
His visit came just three days after the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for “crimes against humanity and war crimes,” compelling the ICC’s 124 member states to arrest them should they enter their territory.
Private Arrest Applications
According to Declassified UK, Halevi was “initially reported to have been included in the ICC’s arrest applications for the crime of having ‘deliberately starved Palestinians in Gaza’.”
The UK's military chief "hosted" his Israeli counterpart, Gen Herzi Halevi – who has been in post throughout its genocide in Gaza – last week.
Although he was ultimately not named in the arrest warrants, the news organization said it was “possible to issue private arrest applications in Britain under universal jurisdiction legislation.” Such an application “allows for the most serious crimes to be prosecuted regardless of where they are committed.”
By issuing Halevi with the “special mission certificate,” the UK government effectively “blocked this avenue for redress,” said the report, “granting him temporary diplomatic immunity for the duration of the visit.”
Decision Condemned
The move was criticized by the International Centre of Justice for Palestinians (ICJP) spokesman Jonathan Purcell as undermining the UK’s global position “by associating so closely with a pariah state.”
“It seems beyond belief that the UK attorney general could meet with the head of the IDF, mere days after arrest warrants were issued for Netanyahu and Gallant,” he told Declassified UK.
“Halevi may not yet have an arrest warrant himself, but regardless, the International Criminal Court Act 2001 obliges the UK to investigate, arrest and prosecute suspected war criminals,” Purcell said, adding that the attorney general’s meeting with Halevi was “utterly reckless.”
New Legislation
In 2011, the UK government passed new legislation “requiring the consent of the director of public prosecutions (DPP) before universal jurisdiction arrest warrants could be issued.”
The amended law followed a 2005 incident in which a private arrest application was issued “for retired Israeli general Doron Almog over alleged war crimes committed in Gaza.” Almog was tipped off and remained on his plane before returning to Israel. This led to a “years-long campaign” by the Israeli government to prevent such possible incidents.
The shift in UK policy was precisely “what the Israeli government had lobbied for,” said the report, as the reforms meant that it would “no longer be possible to issue a private jurisdiction arrest application directly to a British court.”
Indicating how the changes were implemented with Israeli officials in mind, the report added, the country’s then-foreign secretary William Haque had said “We cannot have a position where Israeli politicians feel they cannot visit this country.”
Israeli Officials
Since the amended law, the UK government has issued over 50 special mission certificates to officials from various countries including Israel, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Rwanda.
Of those, 16 were issued to Israeli officials including Netanyahu, former Israeli foreign minister Tzipi Livni, and the former Israeli military intelligence directorate chief Amos Yadlin, said the report.
Since the onset of Israel’s genocidal assault on Gaza last October, two special mission certificates have been granted to Israeli officials. These included Israeli politician Benny Gantz who received immunity to visit the UK in March this year and Halevi for his visit last month, the report stated.
According to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, 44,875 Palestinians have been killed, and 106,454 wounded in Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza starting on October 7, 2023.
Moreover, at least 11,000 people are unaccounted for, presumed dead under the rubble of their homes throughout the Strip.
Polish Deputy Foreign Minister Andrzej Szejna said Thursday, his country is ready to cooperate with the International Criminal Court regarding the implementation of arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“The Polish Foreign Ministry has adopted an interpretation that states that Poland, like the other 124 member states of the Rome Statute, is obligated to cooperate with the International Criminal Court to implement the court’s orders and in its name, not in the name of the states,” Szejna added.
Polska aresztuje Benjamina Netanjahu? Andrzej Szejna mówi otwarcie: Polska jest zobowiązana do wykonania nakazu MTK https://t.co/GjOY2tkrqd
“Immunity and sovereignty that are usually used in international relations between states do not apply to this case,” he stressed.
“Poland considers the International Criminal Court an essential element of international criminal justice and international relations based on law,” the Polish Foreign Minister added.
“Poland’s position is clear. Poland respects the decisions of the International Criminal Court and will implement them,” he continued.
The Commission of the European Union previously stated that it “supports the International Criminal Court, and all EU countries are obligated to implement the arrest warrants issued against Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Galant.”
The ICC issued arrest warrants against Netanyahu and Galant, accusing them of “committing war crimes and crimes against humanity in oIsrael’s] war on the Gaza Strip.”
The Israeli occupation army, supported by the United States and Europe, continues its aggression on the Gaza Strip for the 426th consecutive day, as its warplanes bomb the vicinity of hospitals, buildings, towers and homes of Palestinian civilians, destroying them over the heads of their residents, and preventing the entry of water, food, medicine and fuel.
The ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan is urging its member countries to implement the arrest warrants against Netanyahu and Galant.
The Israeli aggression has left more than 150,000 Palestinian martyred and wounded, most of them children and women, and more than 10,000 missing, amid massive destruction and famine that killed dozens of children and elderly people, in one of the worst humanitarian disasters in the world according to the Palestine Information Center.
Israel attacked on Thursday a report by human rights group Amnesty International accusing Tel Aviv of committing genocide against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
The UK-based organization said early Thursday that it has found “sufficient basis to conclude that Israel has committed and is continuing to commit genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.”
“Israel has unleashed hell and destruction on Palestinians in Gaza brazenly, continuously, and with total impunity,” the rights group said.
The Israeli Foreign Ministry called the Amnesty report “deplorable and fanatical,” and “entirely false and based on lies.”
The ministry claimed that Israel’s deadly offensive in Gaza, where nearly 44,600 have been killed, mostly women and children, was in “self-defense and in accordance with international law.”
Israel launched a genocidal war on the Gaza Strip following an attack by Hamas in October 2023, despite a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire.
The second year of the genocide in Gaza has drawn growing international condemnation, with officials and institutions denouncing the attacks and blocking of aid deliveries as a deliberate attempt to destroy the population according to Anadolu.
Last month, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its deadly war on Gaza.
The Israeli daily Maariv reported that Israel will appeal the International Criminal Court’s decision to issue arrest warrants against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant.
CrossFireArabia
