Israel-Hamas War
US President Joe Biden denied Monday that Israel’s war in Gaza was genocide, as he slammed an ‘outrageous’ request by the International Criminal Court’s prosecutor for an arrest warrant for Israeli leaders. ‘What’s happening is not genocide,’ Biden told a Jewish American Heritage Month event at the White House as he discussed the conflict. Follow our live blog for the latest developments in the war on Gaza.
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Summary:
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The Biden administration has slammed a decision by the International Criminal Court to request arrest warrants for Benjamin Netanyahu, Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, and three Hamas leaders. In a statement, the US president said, “whatever this prosecutor might imply, there is no equivalence – none – between Israel and Hamas.”
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Israel also condemned the decision, with PM Netanyahu calling the decision a “disgrace”. Earlier, Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said the military would expand its operations in the southern Gaza city of Rafah in its efforts to defeat Hamas.
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Food and medicine for Palestinians in Gaza are piling up in Egypt because the Rafah crossing remains closed and there has been no aid delivered to a UN warehouse from a US-built pier for two days, UN officials warned on Monday.
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At least 35,562 Palestinians have been killed and 79,652 wounded in Israel’s war in Gaza, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory. Some 1,170 people were killed in the Hamas-led October 7 attacks and 250 people were taken hostage, according to Israeli figures, with 132 still missing.
Yesterday’s key developments:
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The chief prosecutor of the world’s top war crimes court sought arrest warrants Monday for leaders of Israel and Hamas, including Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, over actions taken during their seven-month war.
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The court’s prosecutor, Karim Khan, accused Netanyahu, Gallant, and three Hamas leaders – Yehya Sinwar, Mohammed Deif and Ismail Haniyeh – of war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Gaza Strip and Israel.
About casualty figures from Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry:
Gaza’s health ministry collects data from the enclave’s hospitals and the Palestinian Red Crescent. For more on the health ministry’s casualty figures, click here.
(Cross Talk India with AFP, AP & Reuters)
