what to remember from Monday, May 20

The prosecutor of the International Criminal Court said he had requested arrest warrants against the Israeli prime minister and several Hamas officials.

In the eighth month of the war in the Palestinian enclave, the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) requested several arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, his Minister of Defense and Hamas leaders. In Syria, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, Israeli strikes killed six people. Here is what to remember from Monday, May 20.

ICC prosecutor requests arrest warrants for Benjamin Netanyahu and Hamas leaders

The attorney general said in a statement that he was seeking arrest warrants for Israeli leaders, including Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant, for crimes including “deliberately starving civilians“, “intentional homicide” And “extermination and/or murder“.”We affirm that the crimes against humanity referred to in the petitions were part of a widespread and systematic attack directed against the Palestinian civilian population in pursuit of the policy of an organization. According to our findings, some of these crimes continue to be committed“, he continued.

The accusations against Hamas leaders, including Yahya Sinouar, the leader of the movement in the Gaza Strip and the alleged mastermind of the October 7 attack, include “extermination“, “rape and other forms of sexual violence” And “hostage taking as a war crime“. It is now up to the judges of the International Criminal Court to determine whether the conditions are met to issue these arrest warrants requested by the Attorney General.

A decision strongly criticized

Hamas said “strongly condemn” the decision to request arrest warrants against its leaders. The Islamist movement denounced “the attempts of the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court to equate the victim with the executioner”, according to a press release. For his part, the Israeli Minister of Foreign Affairs, Israel Katz, very quickly denounced a “scandalous decision“, “a historic dishonor” for the court based in The Hague. The Israeli Prime Minister “rejected with disgust the Hague prosecutor’s comparison between Israel“, country “democratic” And “Hamas mass murderers“.

American President Joe Biden, Israel’s main ally, judged for his part “scandalous” the arrest warrant requested against the Israeli leader, adding that “there [avait] no equivalence” between Israel and Hamas. For its part,he head of American diplomacy, Antony Blinken, for his part described “ashamed“arrest warrants requested against Israeli officials, adding that the ICC did not have”jurisdiction“on Israel and warning that these mandates”could compromise“negotiations on a ceasefire in Gaza.

Israel defends its Rafah offensive to Washington

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant told a visiting US envoy to Israel on Monday that his country had “the duty” to extend its military ground offensive to Rafah, in the south of the Gaza Strip.

During a meeting in Tel Aviv with White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, “I insisted to him on Israel’s duty to expand the ground operation in Rafah, to dismantle Hamas and bring back the hostages“, specifies the minister in a message on X.

In Syria, deadly strikes attributed to Israel

At least six fighters from pro-Iranian groups were killed in strikes attributed to Israel on their positions in central Syria, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (OSDH). According to this UK-based NGO, “an Israeli strike targeted a Hezbollah position” Lebanese in the Qoussair region, close to the border with Lebanon.

The Israeli army has carried out hundreds of strikes in Syria since the outbreak of the civil war there in 2011, mainly targeting military positions and pro-Iranian fighters.