CrossFireArabia
Israel’s Minister of National Security, Itamar Ben-Gvir, attacks War Minister Gallant: “For months, I’ve urged the Prime Minister to dismiss him. The decision must be made in the North, and Gallant is not the right person to lead.”
CrossFireArabia
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Justice Minister Yariv Levin have reportedly made an extraordinary request to Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara to open a fake criminal investigation into state leaders.
According to reports from Israeli Channel 12, the aim of this sham investigation is to block the issuing of arrest warrants by the International Criminal Court (ICC) by invoking the “principle of complementarity.” This principle allows countries to avoid ICC prosecutions if they are deemed to be conducting their own legitimate investigations into crimes.
The plan outlined by Netanyahu and Levin involves starting an investigation and then quickly closing it, claiming to the ICC that Israel has handled the matter internally. However, Baharav-Miara rejected the request, stating there was “no justification” for launching such an investigation.
The request comes in response to ICC prosecutor Karim Khan’s push to accelerate the issuance of arrest warrants against Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant. These warrants are being pursued in light of the ongoing genocide in Gaza and war crimes by Israeli officials. Khan had urged the ICC to fast-track the proceedings in the face of the worsening situation.
The refusal of Baharav-Miara has led to accusations from Netanyahu’s camp, with claims that the Attorney General is “sabotaging efforts.” Despite this, legal experts and government officials argue that political motivations are behind Netanyahu’s request rather than a genuine concern for state justice according to the Quds News Network.
CrossFireArabia
Karim Khan, chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), revealed he faced significant pressure from world leaders not to issue arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. In an interview with the BBC, Khan stated “several leaders and others told me, advised me, and cautioned me” against pursuing the warrants, underscoring the political tensions surrounding the court’s actions.
Despite the external pressure, Khan defended the ICC’s decision to seek warrants against Netanyahu, emphasizing that justice must be applied equally to all nations. He noted the importance of demonstrating that the court upholds common legal standards in addressing war crimes according to the Quds News Network.
Khan had previously announced that the ICC was seeking arrest warrants for both Netanyahu and Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant over war crimes, including the use of starvation as a method of warfare, murder, targeting civilians, and extermination.
The prosecutor also welcomed the UK government’s recent decision to drop its opposition to the arrest warrants. In July, the British government reversed its stance, allowing the ICC to move forward with its pursuit of charges against the Israeli leaders.
Khan acknowledged that the arrest warrants remain confidential and that world leaders were speculating on the evidence presented. However, he stressed that the ICC would remain focused on ensuring that justice is seen to be done, despite the challenges and pressures from the international community.
Meanwhile and in an interview with Japan’s Yomiuri Shimbun last week, Karim Khan revealed that ICC officials were receiving personal “threats” from supporters of both Russia and Israel. Khan cautioned, “If we allow these types of attacks … threats … to dismantle or erode the legal institutions that have been built since the Second World War, does anybody believe it will end with the International Criminal Court?”
CrossFireArabia
The Israeli army warned the Benjamin Netanyahu government that without reaching an agreement with Hamas, any large-scale military operation in Gaza would endanger the lives of the Israeli hostages, Hebrew media reported, Tuesday.
Israel holds at least 9,500 Palestinian prisoners in its jails whilest it is estimated 101 Israeli hostages are being held in Gaza. The Palestinian group Hamas announced that dozens of these hostages have been killed due to indiscriminate Israeli air strikes all over the Gaza Strip.
“The IDF (army) made it clear to the political echelons [government] that without a deal [with Hamas], it must be understood that any extensive ground operation in the Gaza Strip has a meaning — risking the lives of abductees,” Yedioth Ahronoth reported according to Anadolu.
The Israeli newspaper cited an unnamed senior military official who said “the cabinet will have to decide whether it takes responsibility for the lives of the abductees.”
6 Israeli hostages
The report added the military has intensified its warnings to the government since discovering the bodies of six Israeli hostages in a tunnel in the city of Rafah in southern Gaza last Saturday.
The Netanyahu government is accusing Hamas for the killing of these hostages, while the movement maintain they were killed in an Israeli airstrike as part of the Israeli ongoing war in Gaza that literally decimated the enclave as 50,000 bombs were dropped on the territory according to Haaretz.
The deaths of the hostages have sparked a new wave of anger in Israel against Netanyahu, with daily protests taking place holding him personally responsible for their deaths and demanding that he makes a deal with Hamas to exchange the remaining hostages originally at 250.
For months, the US, Qatar and Egypt have tried to reach an accord between Israel and Hamas to ensure a prisoner exchange and a ceasefire and allow humanitarian aid to enter Gaza.
But mediation efforts failed with Netanyahu frustrating every effort by the Israeli delegates to reach a deal with Hamas over the past 11 months or so. He monitored his team – who frequently travelled to Doha and Cairo to hitch a deal – to the minutest details and the delegates have not been allowed any leeway in the negotiations without returning to him first.
A key sticking point in the hostages/ceasfire talks is Netanyahu’s insistence on maintaining the Israeli military’s presence in the Philadelphi Corridor, a demilitarized zone along the Gaza-Egypt border.
Hamas on the other hand demands a complete withdrawal from the Palestinian territory and says no meaningful negotiations can take place if the Israeli military wants to stay there.
Philadelphi Corridor
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant agrees there should be a withdrawal for the sake of the hostages. He recently stated that Israel’s withdrawal from the Philadelphi Corridor during the first phase of a deal would not pose a security threat to his country.
But not so for Netanyahu. In a press conference Monday, he said that achieving the war goals that he set “requires maintaining the Philadelphi Corridor.” He emphasized Israel will never withdraw from the corridor.
Israel has continued its brutal offensive on Gaza following an attack on 7 October, 2023 by Hamas, despite a UN Security Council resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire.
The onslaught resulted in more than 40,800 Palestinian deaths, mostly women and children, and nearly 94,300 injuries, according to local health authorities in Gaza.
An ongoing blockade of Gaza has led to severe shortages of food, clean water and medicine, leaving much of the region in ruins.
Israel faces accusations of genocide at the International Court of Justice, which has ordered a halt to military operations in Rafah, where more than 1 million Palestinians had sought refuge before the area was invaded on May 6.
CrossFireArabia
The Israeli occupation army Ground Forces Commander Tamir Yedie resigned his post “for personal reasons,” it was reported by the Israeli media.
The resignation of the top commander has been trending on social media ever since it was announced with his name trending.
An Israeli military statement did not provide further details about Yadai’s resignation, which came after he served three years in his position according to Anadolu.
His resignation maybe seen as a protest at the way the Israeli war is being handled in Gaza and the current rift between Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The latter insists that the army must continue fighting against Hamas and the Palestinian resistance groups while Gallant is in favor of a breakthrough political deal that would see the return of the 100-or-so remaining hostages.
Also Yadai’s sudden resignation reflects deep-seated dismay within the Israeli army who privately feel they are being made to do an impossible task in Gaza.
Last April, 2024 head of the Military Intelligence Division Aharon Haliva resigned, and the Israeli media then expected a series of resignations in the Israeli army leadership after the launch of internal investigations relating to the military and intelligence failure in repelling the Al-Aqsa Flood operation by Al-Qassam Brigades on 7 October, 2023 according to the Palestine Information Center.
It was then expected among the military leaders that would resign were Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi, his deputy Amir Baram, commander of the Gaza Division Avi Rosenfeld and commander of the Southern Command Yaron Finkelman, although he had been in his position for only two months before 7 October.
