May 20, 2024 Israel-Hamas war

Our live coverage of Israel’s war in Gaza has moved here.

Nearly 570 metric tons of humanitarian aid has been delivered across the temporary pier to Gaza so far, according to the US Central Command.

The aid will be distributed by humanitarian partners,?CENTCOM said in a statement.?

The pier was anchored to a beach in Gaza last week to funnel aid from various countries into the enclave, with most border crossings closed and a catastrophic humanitarian disaster unfolding inside.

France broke away from its Western allies and expressed support for the International Criminal Court (ICC) after the court announced its decision to seek arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Hamas leader in Gaza Yahya Sinwar.

Paris also said it has been warning “for many months” the need for strict compliance with international humanitarian laws and “in particular of the unacceptable level of civilian casualties in the Gaza Strip and the lack of humanitarian access,” the statement said.

The statement marks a major split between France’s position and that of its Western allies, notably the United States, where President Joe Biden called the decision “outrageous.”

France has been one of the few Western countries willing to take a tougher stance on Israel, including criticizing America’s decision to veto ceasefire resolutions in the UN Security Council early on and calling for an immediate ceasefire.

An exterior view of the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Netherlands, on December 6, 2022.

US President Joe Biden on Monday rejected the?International Criminal Court’s arrest warrant requests?for Israeli leaders amid the ongoing war against Hamas.??

The ICC’s request targets top Israeli officials and Hamas leaders.

The ICC’s prosecutor Karim Khan rejected accusations by Israel and some of its allies questioning its independence, saying the request “is not a witch hunt, this is not some kind of emotional reaction to noise. It’s a forensic process.”

Here are some reactions to the arrest request:

Here are more headlines from the region:

Joe Biden speaks during a Jewish American Heritage Month reception in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington, DC, on Monday.

US President Joe Biden offered a full-throated rejection of the International Criminal Court’s arrest warrant requests for Israeli leaders amid the ongoing war against Hamas.??

Biden also acknowledged “the trauma” of October 7 and reiterated his “ironclad” commitment to Israel’s safety and security.?And he promised not to rest until the hostages being held by Hamas are released.

The president also pledged his commitment to a two-state solution.

Biden and his top officials have said the creation of a Palestinian state with guarantees for Israel’s security is the only way to bring peace and stability to the Middle East.

Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said it’s “unacceptable” that the International Criminal Court moved to seek arrest warrants for Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and senior Hamas officials on the charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity over the war in Gaza.

At least 12 Palestinians were killed Monday in an Israeli military bombardment of Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip,?according to?local?health officials.

The strikes also injured 10 people, a spokesperson at the local Kamal Adwan Hospital told CNN.?Residents and rescue workers say about 10 other people were trapped under the rubble of buildings that were flattened in the attack.

CNN video of the aftermath shows the concrete skeleton of destroyed buildings, with entire walls ripped through on several floors. Stone slabs and metal rods spill from the roof of the building as Palestinian men, women and children crowd near the site. Some hold their heads in their hands, while others search the debris for survivors.?

Ambulances from the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) could be seen slowly moving along demolished roads, in footage filmed for CNN. Rescue workers and citizens dug through smashed pieces of broken concrete. In one scene, emergency crews resorted to using a rope to pull up the body of a woman wrapped in a blanket.?

Israel’s military campaign in Gaza since the Hamas-led October 7 attacks has drained critical supplies and destroyed main highways. Fares Afana, the ambulance and emergency director for northern Gaza told CNN that emergency operations are “very difficult due to dwindling equipment.”?

One man who spoke to CNN from the scene said there were children trapped under the destroyed home of the Kahlout family.?

In recent days, the Israeli military has intensified attacks on several locations saying its soldiers “eliminated more than 200 terrorists, destroyed terrorist infrastructure and destroyed underground tunnels both from the ground and from the air” in northern Gaza.??

Salman Rushdie is photographed at the Deutsches Theater before the reading of his new book "Knife" in Berlin, on May 16.

Author Salman Rushdie believes that Hamas would take charge of a Palestinian state if one was to be formed now.

“Is that what the progressive movements of the Western left want to create?” Rushdie said in an interview regarding the recent students protests in the US.

Rushdie said that “any normal person” would be shocked by the number of “innocent deaths” in Gaza, but he argued that pro-Palestinian demonstrators are failing to call out Hamas’ actions.

“I think the demonstrators could also mention Hamas. Because it all started with them. And Hamas is a terrorist organization. And it’s strange that a young progressive student organization supports a fascist terrorist group, because they do that in a way,” he said.

The author, who has been targeted for his writing multiple times, also says that calls for a free Palestine become “problematic… when it descends into anti-Semitism and sometimes even support for Hamas.”

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell says “the ICC has succeeded only in discrediting itself” by seeking an arrest warrant for Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu.

“Since the immediate aftermath of October 7, Israel and allies and Jewish people around the world have faced pernicious efforts to equate a sovereign nation’s self-defense with barbaric acts of terrorism,” he said in Monday’s floor remarks.

“But today, the most noxious attempt at moral equivalence comes from unelected international bureaucrats brandishing a contrived and perverted authority.”

“In the same breath, the self-aggrandizing prosecutor of the International Criminal Court applied for arrest warrants for both Hamas chief terrorists and Israel’s duly elected prime minister. It’s a damning development, but not for the supposed subjects of the applications.

McConnell also addressed the death of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi in a helicopter crash over the weekend.

“The untimely death of the president of Iran does not change the underlying threats this regime poses to its own citizens the region and to the free world,” he said.

“I’d also like to extend my condolences to Iran’s neighbors who still live under the constant threat of a regime that practices what it preaches. Death to Israel, death to America, war on international commerce, and chaos across the Middle East.

Meanwhile, other senior GOP senators running for leader also condemned the ICC’s move regarding an arrest warrant for Netanyahu.

Senate Minority Whip John Thune, who is running to replace McConnell as GOP leader next Congress,?tweeted?that the move was “as unjustifiable as it is shameful.”

Sen. John Cornyn, who is also running, condemned the ICC’s decision in his own?post?on X, calling it “illegitimate and unsubstantiated.”

White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan on Monday wrapped up his visit to the Middle East, during which he met with Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid and members of the war cabinet, including Yoav Gallant and Benny Gantz.

During his meetings, he brought up the need to increase the surge of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip as well as the situation in the enclave more broadly.?

Asked later if any specific progress was made during the trip on a hostage deal, Kirby said that they continue to work on it but that there were no substantive updates.?

Mike Johnson speaks to reporters at the Capitol, in Washington DC, on May 16.

House Speaker Mike Johnson confirmed?House Republican leaders are looking at sanctions in response to the International Criminal Court’s decision to move ahead with arrest warrants including for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.?

Johnson added: “The ICC has no authority over Israel or the United States, and today’s baseless and illegitimate decision should face global condemnation. International bureaucrats cannot be allowed to use lawfare to usurp the authority of democratic nations that maintain the rule of law.”

Some background: The warrants against the Israeli politicians, including Netanyahu, mark the first time the ICC has targeted the top leader of a close ally of the United States.

Israel and the US are not members of the ICC. However, the ICC claims to have jurisdiction over Gaza, East Jerusalem and the West Bank after Palestinian leaders formally agreed to be bound by the court’s founding principles in 2015.

The United States believes the ICC applications for arrest warrants against senior Israeli officials are “fully unfounded” and “should not have been brought,” according to a State Department spokesperson, while Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said the US would still cooperate with the ICC on their work on Russian war crimes in Ukraine.

Austin said US support for Israel remains “ironclad.”?

State Department Spokesperson Matthew Miller said that the ICC has done “important work over the years to hold people accountable for war crimes and crimes against humanity” that the US still supports.?

Miller would not say whether the US is considering taking action against the ICC as a result of the?arrest warrants.?

“We’ll have the time to look at it, to digest it and perhaps issue a more complete response,” said State Department Spokesperson Matthew Miller about the ICC applications at a press conference.

Asked whether there was an inconsistency in its position toward the war Russia is waging in Ukraine and Israel’s military campaign in Gaza, National Security Council spokesman?spokesman John Kirby said the difference is one of intent.?

Kirby argued civilian casualties in Gaza, by contrast, have been lamentable but inadvertent.?

“IDF soldiers are not waking up in the morning, putting their boots on the ground with direct orders to go kill innocent civilians in Gaza,” Kirby said, while acknowledging that any civilian death toll is too high.

Displaced Palestinians carry their belongings on May 6 as they leave Rafah following an evacuation order.

More than 900,000 people, approximately 40% of Gaza’s population, have been displaced in the past two weeks as Israeli bombardment continues across much of the enclave, United Nations spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said Monday.

The Israeli bombardment has been accompanied by ground incursions and intense fighting, particularly in eastern Rafah and Jabalya, he added, saying that of the displaced Palestinians, 812,000 are from Rafah and over 100,000 from northern Gaza.

He added that the large-scale displacement has resulted in dire living conditions due to a severe shortage of shelters, with no tents and very few shelter items available for distribution.

Displaced individuals are seeking refuge in open spaces, damaged buildings, and agricultural lands in Khan Younis and Deir al-Balah.?

House Republican leaders are looking at putting an International Criminal Court (ICC) sanctions bill on the floor, according to a congressional aide, in response to the ICC’s decision to move ahead with arrest warrants, including for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.?

Specifically, there is talk among top Republicans of modifying an existing bill, sponsored by GOP Rep. Chip Roy of Texas, that would impose sanctions on the ICC if it arrests, investigates, or prosecutes any protected person of the United States or its allies.?

But nothing has been finalized yet, and it’s unclear if they will be able to prepare legislation in time for a floor vote this week. The House is only scheduled to be in session for three days this week, and then it will break for the weeklong Memorial Day recess.??

US National Security spokesman?John Kirby said the Biden administration plans to stay in close touch with members of Congress but stopped short of committing support for any Republican effort to levy new sanctions on the ICC.

Iran’s presidential elections will take place Friday, June 28, following the death of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi in a helicopter crash.

According to Iranian state news IRNA, candidates can register from May 30 to June 3, and campaigning will run from June 12 until the morning of June 27.

What happened? Raisi died in a helicopter crash together with his Foreign Minister?Hossein Amir-Abdollahian?on Sunday in the East Azerbaijan Province, northwest of Iran.

Read more here:

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vehemently rejected a move by the International Criminal Court’s prosecutor on Monday to seek a warrant for his arrest over alleged war crimes in Gaza.

Calling the escalation of the legal proceedings “a complete distortion of reality,” Netanyahu said the “absurd and false warrants” of the?ICC prosecutor, which also called for the arrest of Israel’s Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, were not only targeting them, but “directed?against the entire State of Israel.”?

“This is exactly what the new antisemitism looks like, it has moved from the campuses in the West to the court in The Hague,” he added.?

In a video statement in English, he called it a “travesty of justice” and an “outrageous decision” that “creates a twisted and false moral equivalence between the leaders of Israel and the henchmen of Hamas.”

“The prosecutor’s absurd charges against me and Israel’s defense minister are merely an attempt to deny Israel the basic right of self-defense. And I assure you of one thing: This attempt will utterly fail,” he said.

He added that “Israel will continue to wage this war in full compliance with international law.”

A close ally: The warrants against the Israeli politicians, including Netanyahu, mark the first time the ICC has targeted the top leader of a close ally of the United States.

US officials have previously said that they “firmly oppose” the ICC investigation into the Israel-Palestinian conflict.?On Monday, US President Joe Biden strongly denounced the decision while US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the US has long opposed the ICC’s investigation into the war in Gaza because it believes the court “has no jurisdiction over this matter.”

Video of Netanyahu’s response here:

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International Criminal Court Prosecutor Karim Khan speaks with CNN's Christiane Amanpour.

ICC prosecutor Karim Khan has rejected accusations by Israel and some of its allies questioning its independence.?

Speaking to CNN’s Christiane Amanpour in an exclusive interview, Khan said the “allegations of anti-semitism, the hate, the idea that by applying the law blindly, we are favoring one side, or persecuting or being hostile to another side …. nothing can be further from the truth.”

International Criminal Court Prosecutor Karim Khan speaks with the press in Paris in February.

The International Criminal Court has responded to criticism by the US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, telling CNN’s Christiane Amanpour that the ICC prosecutor has spent “three years” trying to improve dialogue with Israel and obtain information relevant to our investigations.”

Blinken criticized the ICC prosecutor Karim Khan for rushing to apply for the warrants and “not allowing the Israeli legal system?a full and timely opportunity to proceed.”

“The prosecutor also repeatedly underlined his concerns regarding the adherence of Israel to international humanitarian law and has emphasized publicly that he has not seen any discernible change in conduct despite his earlier statements.”

The US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the US has long opposed the ICC’s investigation into the war in Gaza because it believes the court “has no jurisdiction over this matter.”

Explaining the Biden administration’s position, Blinken said the ICC was “established by its state parties?as a court of limited jurisdiction.”

“Those limits are rooted in principles?of complementarity, which do not appear to have?been applied here amid the?prosecutor’s rush to seek these arrest warrants rather than allowing the Israeli legal system?a full and timely opportunity to proceed,” he said, adding that the ICC prosecutor deviated from the usual legal process by applying for the arrest warrants.

“In?other?situations, the prosecutor?deferred to national investigations and?worked with?states?to?allow?them time?to investigate.?The prosecutor did not afford the same opportunity to Israel, which has ongoing investigations into allegations against its personnel,” Blinken said.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken attends meeting in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, in April.

The US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the US “fundamentally rejects” today’s announcement by the ICC prosecutor Karim Khan that he is applying for arrest warrants for senior Israeli officials “together with” Hamas leaders, saying that it “could?jeopardize” ongoing efforts to reach a ceasefire and hostage release agreement between Israel and Hamas.

“Fundamentally, this decision does nothing to help, and could jeopardize, ongoing efforts to reach a ceasefire agreement that would get hostages out and surge humanitarian assistance in, which are the goals the United States continues to pursue relentlessly,” Blinken added.

The US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the US has concerns over what he called “troubling process questions” leading up to the ICC prosecutor’s application for arrest warrants against top Israeli leaders.

He said that the?court’s prosecutor Karim Khan was scheduled to visit Israel?“as?early as next week” to discuss the investigation and hear from the Israeli government and that Khan’s staff was meant to travel to Israel on Monday to coordinate the trip.

“These and other circumstances call into question the legitimacy and credibility of this investigation,” Blinken said, adding that the US also believed the “ICC has no jurisdiction over this matter.”

US President Joe Biden speaks at the White House on May 2.

US President Joe Biden has strongly denounced the decision by the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court to seek arrest warrants against Israeli leaders, calling it “outrageous.”

“Let me be clear: whatever this prosecutor might imply, there is no equivalence — none — between Israel and Hamas,” the president wrote. “We will always stand with Israel against threats to its security.”

The United Kingdom has criticized the decision by the International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor to seek arrest warrants for Hamas and Israeli leaders on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity, implying the step could hamper the situation on the ground in Gaza.

A spokesperson for the British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said in a statement:

Later,?another UK government spokesperson reiterated the UK’s opposition to the ICC’s action. “As we have said from the outset, we do not think the ICC has jurisdiction in this case. The UK has not yet recognised Palestine as a state, and Israel is not a State Party to the Rome Statute,” the spokesperson said.

Some context: The UK is among the 124 countries that have signed up to the Rome Statute, which established the ICC. While it’s true that Israel is not a signatory (neither is the United States), the ICC claims to have jurisdiction over Gaza, East Jerusalem and the West Bank after Palestinian leaders formally agreed to be bound by the court’s founding principles in 2015. A group of international legal experts issued a report on Monday, saying they that they believe the court has jurisdiction over the crimes set out in Khan’s application.

The Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Wednesday praised the decision by the ICC prosecutor Karim Khan to apply for arrest warrants for several top leaders of Hamas and Israel, saying it illustrated the court’s “crucial role.”?

“This principled first step by the prosecutor opens the door to those responsible for the atrocities committed in recent months to answer for their actions at a fair trial.”

Jarrah said in the statement that Khan made the decision to apply for the arrest warrants “in the face of pressure from US lawmakers and others” and added that the “hostile pressure is likely to increase while the ICC judges consider Khan’s request.”?

She gave no further details on these allegations.

A group of international legal experts including human rights barrister?Amal?Clooney and the former president of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, Judge Theodor Meron, has issued a report in support of the decision by the ICC prosecutor Karim Khan to apply for arrest warrants against the top leaders of Hamas and Israel.

The panel was convened by Khan to review the evidence and legal analysis underpinning his application.

They said there were “reasonable grounds to believe” that individuals named in the arrest warrants have committed war crimes or crimes against humanity.

Khan is seeking arrest warrants against Hamas’ leader in Gaza Yahya Sinwar, Mohammed Diab Ibrahim al-Masri, who is the leader of the Al Qassem Brigades?and?is better known as Mohammed Deif, and Ismail Haniyeh, Hamas’ political leader — over the October 7 attacks into southern Israel.

Khan is also seeking warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant over Israel’s military assault in Gaza.

Clooney and Meron were joined by several other renowned legal experts: Lord Justice Fulford who is a former ICC judge;?Baroness Helena Kennedy, the director of the International Bar Association’s Human Rights Institute; and?human rights and international law experts Danny Friedman and Elizabeth Wilmshurst.

They said:

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, center, arrives at a Likud party meeting in Jerusalem on Monday.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has described the decision by the International Criminal Court (ICC) to raise warrants for his arrest over Israel’s military offensive in Gaza since the Hamas-led October 7 attacks as “political outrage.”

Speaking Monday at a meeting of the parliamentary group of his Likud party, Netanyahu claimed the application by ICC prosecutor, Karim Khan “will not deter us.”

“We will continue in the war until the hostages are released and Hamas is destroyed,” added the Israeli leader.

Charges against Netanyahu: The charges against Netanyahu and Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant include “causing extermination, causing starvation as a method of war, including the denial of humanitarian relief supplies, deliberately targeting civilians in conflict,” Khan told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour.

The International Criminal Court (ICC) is applying for arrest warrants against Hamas leader in Gaza Yahya Sinwar and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

The news on Monday came as Israeli forces intensified attacks across the Gaza Strip following the Hamas-led October 7 attacks, where seven months of bombardment has rendered entire Palestinian neighborhoods rubble-filled wasteland.

Here’s what you need to know:

Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar is seen in Gaza City in April 2022.

Hamas has denounced the request by the International Criminal Court for arrest warrants of three of its leadership over the October 7 attacks into southern Israel.

In a statement Monday, Hamas said it “strongly condemns the attempts of the ICC Prosecutor to equate victims with aggressors by issuing arrest warrants against a number of Palestinian resistance leaders without legal basis.”

The ICC prosecutor, Karim Khan, issued requests for arrest warrants for Yahya Sinwar, Hamas’ military leader in Gaza, as well as two other top Hamas figures — Mohammed Diab Ibrahim al-Masri, the leader of the Al Qassem Brigades?and?better known as Mohammed Deif, and Ismail Haniyeh, Hamas’ political leader.

Ismail Haniyeh speaks to the press in Tehran in March 2024.

Hamas said that arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant over Israel’s military campaign in Gaza had come “seven months late,” during which time “the Israeli occupation committed thousands of crimes against Palestinian civilians, including children, women, doctors, journalists, and the destruction of private and public properties, mosques, churches, and hospitals.”

The prosecutor should have issued arrest warrants against “all responsible leaders of the occupation who gave orders, and soldiers who participated in committing crimes,” according to the court’s statutes, the militant group added.

“Hamas calls on the ICC Prosecutor to issue arrest warrants against all war criminals among the occupation leaders, officers, and soldiers who participated in crimes against the Palestinian people, and demands the cancellation of all arrest warrants issued against Palestinian resistance leaders.”

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson speaks with members of the media at the US Capitol in Washington, DC, in April.

House GOP leaders are still weighing a potential legislative response to the news that the?International Criminal Court is seeking arrest warrants for Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity, per a GOP source familiar.

House Speaker Mike Johnson is expected to put out a statement Monday, another source said, while leadership is still looking at potential legislative options.?

Nothing has been decided and discussions are still ongoing, but Republicans are expected to forcefully respond — and several of them have already spoken out. The House returns to Washington on Tuesday.??

A close ally: The warrants against the Israeli politicians mark the first time the ICC has targeted the top leader of a close ally of the United States.

US officials have previously said that they “firmly oppose” the ICC investigation into the Israel-Palestinian conflict.?

CNN has asked the White House and State Department for comment on the announcement. The State Department did not immediately respond.

At least 15 bodies arrived in a hospital in northern Gaza following a nearby airstrike on Palestinians queuing for aid on Monday, according to a health official, as Israeli forces ramp up attacks in the area.

Victims were in a line for water at the time of the strike, the director of Kamal Adwan hospital told CNN. Another 30 people were injured, Dr. Husam Abu Safiya said.

Since Israeli forces began ground attacks in the Jabalya neighborhood on May 11, at least 180 bodies and 550 injured people had arrived at local hospitals, added Abu Safiya.

Israeli forces surround hospital: The Israeli military had surrounded another northern Gaza hospital – Al-Awda – Abu Safiya told CNN. Only Kamal Adwan remained operational, although most of the staff had left the facility.

“We are providing services with limited resources, insufficient medical supplies, and a shortage of healthcare staff,” he said.

Highest daily death toll: Israeli attacks in Gaza have killed 106 Palestinians and injured another 176 people in the past 24 hours, according to the Ministry of Health there.

The number is the highest daily death toll since mid-April. In total, Israeli attacks in Gaza have killed at least 35,562 Palestinians and wounded another 79,652 people since October 7, the ministry said. CNN cannot independently verify the figures.

The exterior of the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Netherlands, is seen in 2021.

The International Criminal Court – which is seeking arrest warrants for senior Israeli and Hamas leaders on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity over the October 7 attacks on Israel and the subsequent war in Gaza – brings cases against individuals for war crimes or crimes against humanity.

Not the ICJ: The ICC announcement on Monday is separate from the case that is currently being heard by the the International Court of Justice?(ICJ) over an?accusation from South Africa?that Israel was committing genocide in its military campaign in Gaza following the Hamas-led October 7 attacks.

The ICJ hears cases brought by states accusing others of violating their United Nations treaty obligations.

ICC jurisdiction: Located in The Hague, Netherlands, and created by a treaty called the Rome Statute first brought before the United Nations, the ICC operates independently. Most countries – 124 of them – are parties to the treaty, but there are notable exceptions, including Israel, the US and Russia.

That means that if the court grants the application made by ICC prosecutor, Karim Khan, and issues arrest warrants for the five men, any country that is a member would have to arrest them and extradite them to The Hague.

Under the rules of the court, all signatories of the Rome Statute have the obligation to cooperate fully with its decisions. This would make it extremely difficult for Netanyahu and Gallant to travel internationally, including to many countries that are among Israel’s closest allies – including Germany and the United Kingdom.

Israeli politicians across the political spectrum have condemned the?decision of the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court to apply for arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant over Israel’s military assault in Gaza.

The leader of the opposition, Yair Lapid, said the application by Karim Khan, “is a complete moral failure, we cannot accept the outrageous comparison between Netanyahu and Sinwar,” a reference to Hamas’ military leader. “We will not remain silent.”

The right-wing minister for National Security, Itamar Ben Gvir, accused the ICC of antisemitism, saying, “The Prime Minister and the Minister of Defense must ignore the anti-Semitic prosecutor of the Anti-Semitic Court, and order the escalation of the attack against Hamas, until its absolute defeat.”

Meanwhile, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said: “We have not seen such a show of hypocrisy and hatred of Jews as that of the Hague Tribunal since Nazi propaganda.”?

“These arrest warrants will be the last nail in the dismantling of this political and anti-Semitic court. The friends of Israel and the truly enlightened countries will not be able to allow its continued existence and functioning,” Smotrich added.?

CNN has reached out to the Prime Minister’s office and Defense Ministry.

The UN’s food assistance agency has warned critical supplies in Gaza will dry up “in a matter of days,” as a planned Israeli ground assault into Rafah triggers mass displacement amid a deepening humanitarian catastrophe.

The World Food Programme (WFP) says the “escalation of military activity” in the southern Gaza city has “displaced hundreds of thousands of people.” Increased fighting in the strip could “bring aid operations to a complete standstill, the WFP added on May 15.

On May 6, Israeli forces began expanding aerial strikes into ground attacks on Rafah, from where more than 810,000 Palestinians have been displaced, according to the UN’s agency for Palestine refugees.

Diminished aid: Increased fighting in Gaza has made more than 300,000 tons of food in warehouses “inaccessible”, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said on Friday.

The agency also cited the Egyptian Red Crescent as saying that last Thursday, 1,574 out of about 2,050 trucks carrying food remain stuck in Al Arish on the Egyptian side of the Rafah crossing, which has now been closed for two weeks after the Israeli military took control.

On Monday, the General Authority for Crossings and Borders in Gaza said the closure of Rafah was threatening the lives of more than 11,000 wounded people requiring evacuation for treatment abroad.

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks at the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial in Jerusalem on May 5.

A member of Israel’s war cabinet, Benny Gantz, has condemned the decision of the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court to apply for arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant over Israel’s military campaign in Gaza.

“The State of Israel is waging one of the just wars fought in modern history following a reprehensible massacre perpetrated by terrorist Hamas on the 7th of October,” Benny Gantz said in a statement.

“While Israel fights with one of the strictest moral codes in history, while complying with international law and boasting a robust independent judiciary – drawing parallels between the leaders of a democratic country determined to defend itself from despicable terror to leaders of a blood-thirsty terror organisation is a deep distortion of justice and blatant moral bankruptcy,” he added.

Israel's Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant attends a funeral in December in Tel Aviv.

“The prosecutor’s position to apply for arrest warrants is in itself a crime of historic proportion to be remembered for generation.”

ICC charges: The charges against Netanyahu and Gallant include “causing extermination, causing starvation as a method of war, including the denial of humanitarian relief supplies, deliberately targeting civilians in conflict,” the ICC prosecutor, Karim Khan, told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour in an exclusive interview on Monday.

Displaced Palestinian children line up to receive food in Rafah, Gaza, on May 19.

The UN’s food assistance agency has demanded “safe, sustained access” into the Gaza Strip from authorities in Israel.

The World Food Programme (WFP) raised concerns over an “expected escalation in fighting” that will “jeopardize” access into northern Gaza on X, adding, “We need safe, sustained access into and across Gaza to prevent famine.”

What does Israel say? At least 422 humanitarian?aid?trucks were inspected and transferred to Gaza via Ashdod port and the Erez crossing, and Kerem Shalom, according to COGAT, the Israeli agency that coordinates the delivery of aid to Gaza.

The trucks were also passed via a new US-constructed pier off the Gaza coast. Of these only 17 truck loads were delivered through the pier.

COGAT said that there were 44 coordination requests for the movement of?aid?Sunday, of which 33 had been approved. Ten out of 11 UN requests had been approved. Much of the?aid?approved for transfer is not being distributed as Israel’s offensive has caused widespread demolition inside the territory, with intense fighting in the north, center and south of Gaza.

Two crossings: Only the Israeli-controlled Kerem Shalom crossing and the “Western Erez” Crossing in northern Gaza are open, although Israel’s severe aid restrictions means barely enough relief is trickling into the enclave. At least 6,000 tonnes of?aid entered through the northern crossings in May, added WFP.

The Rafah crossing between southern Gaza and neighboring Egypt was closed after Israeli authorities seized the Palestinian side – ahead of a planned full-scale ground assault into the nominal city.

Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

US officials have repeatedly said that they “firmly oppose” the International Criminal Court (ICC) investigation into the Israel-Palestinian conflict.?

CNN has asked the White House and State Department for comment on the announcement Monday that the ICC is seeking war crimes warrants for Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over the October 7 attacks on Israel and the subsequent war in Gaza. The State Department did not immediately respond.

When an initial investigation was launched in March, the State Department said in a statement, “Israel is not a party to the ICC and has not consented to the Court’s jurisdiction, and we have serious concerns about the ICC’s attempts to exercise its jurisdiction over Israeli personnel. The Palestinians do not qualify as a sovereign state and therefore, are not qualified to obtain membership as a state in, participate as a state in, or delegate jurisdiction to the ICC.”

State Department officials have reiterated that opposition in recent weeks. “We’ve been really clear about the ICC investigation.?We do not support it.?We don’t believe that they have the jurisdiction.?And I’m just going to leave it there for now,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in April.

State Department Spokesperson Matt Miller said he could not “make any predictions or any announcements” when asked if the Biden administration would sanctions on top ICC officials if they went ahead with Israel indictments.

International Criminal Court Prosecutor Karim Khan at the Cour d'Honneur of the Palais Royal in Paris, France, on February 7.

The prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) told CNN that “nobody is above the law,” after seeking arrest warrants for senior Hamas and Israeli leaders on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Karim Khan is seeking arrest warrants for Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar and two other top Hamas leaders — Mohammed Diab Ibrahim al-Masri, the leader of the Al Qassem Brigades?and?better known as Mohammed Deif, and Ismail Haniyeh, Hamas’ political leader — over the October 7 attacks into southern Israel. He is also seeking warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant over Israel’s military assault in Gaza.

Previous dissent from Israel: When reports surfaced last month that the prosecutor for the International Criminal Court (ICC) was considering this course of action,?Netanyahu said?that?any ICC arrest warrants against senior Israeli government and military officials “would be an outrage of historic proportions,” and that Israel “has an independent legal system that rigorously investigates all violations of the law.”

Israel and the United States are not members of the ICC. However, the ICC claims to have jurisdiction over Gaza, East Jerusalem and the West Bank after Palestinian leaders formally agreed to be bound by the court’s founding principles in 2015.

Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, left, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The International Criminal Court is seeking arrest warrants for Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity over the October 7 attacks on Israel and the subsequent war in Gaza, the court’s prosecutor Karim Khan told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour in an exclusive interview on Monday.

The warrants against the Israeli politicians mark the first time the ICC has targeted the top leader of a close ally of the United States. The decision puts Netanyahu in the company of the Russian President Vladimir Putin, for whom the ICC issued an arrest warrant?over?Moscow’s war?on?Ukraine.

A panel of ICC judges will now consider Khan’s application for the arrest warrants.

Khan said the charges against Sinwar, Haniyeh and al-Masri include “extermination, murder, taking of hostages, rape and sexual assault in detention.”

“The world was shocked on the 7th of October when people were ripped from their bedrooms, from their homes, from the different kibbutzim in Israel,” Khan told Amanpour, adding that “people have suffered enormously.”

The charges against Netanyahu and Gallant include “causing extermination, causing starvation as a method of war, including the denial of humanitarian relief supplies, deliberately targeting civilians in conflict,” Khan told Amanpour.

Palestinians inspect their destroyed homes after an Israeli air strike on the Nuseirat camp, Gaza, on May 19.

Two senior Hamas operatives in charge of liaising and directing Hamas fighters have been killed by air strikes in Gaza, the Israel Defense Forces said Monday.

The two killed were Zaher Huli and Rami Khalil Faki, both from Hamas’ Military Wing and Hamas Police, according to the IDF.

It said Zaher “leveraged his position to foster connections with other Hamas terrorists and promote terror attacks against the Israeli home front.”

On Sunday, an airstrike that hit the?Nuseirat refugee camp killed at least 35 people, including seven children and nine women, in central Gaza in the early hours of Sunday, according to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital.

It’s not clear whether the civilian casualties reported from an air strike in?Nuseirat were caused by the targeting of Faki, who belonged to Hamas Police’s office there.

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi prepares delivers remarks at the 77th session of the United Nations General Assembly at U.N. headquarters on September 21, 2022 in New York City.

Iran-backed Lebanese militant group Hezbollah has joined allies in extending condolences over the death of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, whom they likened to a “big brother.”

Hezbollah, one of the most powerful paramilitary forces in the Middle East, has clashed with Israel in near-daily cross-border skirmishes since the war in Gaza began.

Mohammed Ali al-Houthi speaks to a reporter during an interview in Sanaa, Yemen, on March 19, 2019.

Iran-backed militant groups Hamas and the Houthis have sent condolences to Tehran over the death of the country’s President Ebrahim Raisi.?

Raisi died in a helicopter crash together with his Foreign Minister?Hossein Amir-Abdollahian?on Sunday in the East Azerbaijan Province, northwest of Iran.

Hours after their deaths were confirmed, Houthi senior official Mohamed Ali Al-Houthi sent a message of condolences.

The president of the government led by Yemen’s Houthis, Mahdi Al-Mashat, “sent a message of condolences and condolences” to Iran after Raisi’s death.

Hamas said it is extending “its sincere condolences, deep sympathy, and solidarity” to the supreme leader, “to the Iranian government, and to the brotherly Iranian people.”

Iran has provided military and economic backing to Hamas and the Houthis.

People carry the casket of Shani Louk on May 19, in Srigim-Li On, Israel.

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi was killed along with the country’s foreign minister in a helicopter crash on Sunday, at an especially fraught moment in the Middle East.

As the war wages in Gaza, Iran-backed militias, such as Hezbollah and the Houthis, have been fighting Israeli forces in other parts of the region.

Last month, Iran launched an unprecedented drone-and-missile attack on Israel in response to a deadly apparent Israeli airstrike that killed a top commander in Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards. Israel struck back a week later.

Raisi’s death could cast a further shadow on the stability of the region.

Here are the latest developments in the region:

Meanwhile, in Israel:

Rescue teams' vehicles are seen near the site of the incident of the helicopter carrying Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi in Varzaghan in northwestern Iran, on May 19.

The death of Iran’s president and foreign minister in a helicopter crash on a remote mountainside comes at an especially fraught moment in the Middle East – and for Iran domestically.

Israel’s war against Hamas and the subsequent humanitarian catastrophe that has unfolded in Gaza over the last seven months has inflamed global opinion and sent tensions soaring across the Middle East.?

It has also brought a decades-long shadow war between Iran and Israel out into the open.

Last month, Iran launched an unprecedented drone and missile attack on Israel — its first direct attack on the country — in response to a deadly apparent Israeli airstrike on Iran’s consulate in Damascus that killed a top commander in Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards (IRGC).?

Israel struck back a week later, according to US officials, hitting targets outside the Iranian city of Isfahan with a much smaller, calibrated response.?

Since then the tit-for-tat direct strikes between the two have stopped. But the proxy war continues with Iran-backed militias such as Hamas and Hezbollah continuing to fight Israel’s forces.

Meanwhile, Iran’s hardline leadership has weathered an explosion of recent popular dissent on the streets at home where years of US-led sanctions have hit hard.

The country was convulsed by youth-led demonstrations against clerical rule and worsening economic conditions following the 2022 death of Mahsa Amini in the custody of Iran’s notorious morality police.

Iranian authorities have since launched a widening crackdown on dissent in response to the protests.

That crackdown has led to human rights violations, some of which amount to “crimes against humanity,” according to a United Nations report released in March.

And while the protests have largely stopped, opposition to clerical leadership remains deeply entrenched among many Iranians, especially the young, who yearn for reform, jobs and a move away from stifling religious rule.

A former hardline judiciary chief with his own brutal human rights record, Raisi was elected president in 2021 in a vote heavily engineered by the Islamic Republic’s political elite so that he would run virtually uncontested.

Raisi defeated a more moderate candidate and his victory was seen to signal the start of a new harder-line era in Iran. Yet turnout for that election was just 41 percent, a record low.

The powers of Iran’s president are ultimately?dwarfed by those of?Supreme Leader?Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who is the final arbiter of domestic and foreign affairs in the Islamic Republic.

With Raisi dead, it is likely new elections will have to be held.

The Iranian constitution mandates that the Vice President — currently Mohammad Mokhbar — will assume the position of interim president and that new presidential elections will be held within 50 days.

That means Iran’s clerical establishment, headed by Khamenei, must now find a new leader they can throw their support behind against a backdrop of intense regional insecurity and domestic discontent.

The Israeli military released a Hamas propaganda video it said it recovered, which shows a child who was held hostage by Hamas, spokesperson Daniel Hagari said on Sunday.?

Hagari did not say when or where the video was recovered.?

The sisters were kidnapped from their home in Kibbutz Nir Oz during the October 7 Hamas attack and were?released?on November 26 as part of the temporary truce.?

The video shows Ela Elyakim speaking to the camera asking to be released. The military also released a photo showing Ela with her sister Dafna Elyakim by her side in front of a flag with the Hamas logo.

In the video, Ela says in Hebrew: “My name is Ela Elyakim, daughter of Noam and I am eight years old, and I am asking to release us and I am a hostage of Hamas”

“8-year-old Ela Elyakim told us that Hamas terrorists forced her to read from a script, forced her to change her clothes, and forced her to re-film this terrifying scene over and over and over again,” Hagari said.?

The family of the sisters approved the military publishing the video, Hagari said. CNN has decided not to air the video but to show the still image of the two sisters.?

Read the full story.

Joe Biden attends a dinner for the Detroit chapter of the NAACP, on May 19, in Detroit.

US President Joe Biden said he has called for an “immediate ceasefire” in Gaza while delivering a commencement address Sunday at Morehouse College in Atlanta.

“What’s happening in Gaza and Israel is heartbreaking,” he said.

Some context: Biden is spoke at the?graduation ceremony for one of the nation’s preeminent historically Black colleges at a time when pro-Palestinian protests are?roiling college campuses.

The Israel Defense Forces has further detailed Sunday its ground operations around the Jabalya refugee camp in northern Gaza, now into their second week.

The IDF said it has made dozens of strikes in the area to assist the forces who are fighting “armed terrorist cells” on the ground.

The military said “the soldiers have located large quantities of weapons, including explosives, anti-tank missiles, AK-47s, drones and grenades.”

The Israeli military has re-entered parts of northern and central Gaza, it says, to combat efforts by Hamas to re-establish itself in these areas.

Reports from the ground: Displaced Palestinians in Jabalya tell CNN that heavy Israeli bombardment has wrought “death and horror” at the camp. About 300 houses were completely destroyed over the course of seven days, according to Mahmoud Bassal, a spokesperson for the civil defense emergency services in Gaza.

Bassal’s teams had recovered at least 150 bodies and rescued hundreds of wounded people at the refugee camp as of Saturday, he told CNN.

In southern Gaza: The IDF said the Israeli Air Force killed a senior Hamas operative in Rafah. The IDF claims he was actively involved in the smuggling of weapons and funds in Gaza.

Overall, the IDF said the Air Force had struck dozens of targets, including what it claimed were “two tactical-level Hamas commanders who were preparing to attack IDF troops in the Rafah area.”

The parents of Shani Louk, the German-Israeli woman who was killed while trying to escape the Nova music festival on October 7, have expressed their gratitude at being able to lay her body to rest after it was recovered from the Gaza Strip in an Israel Defense Forces operation.

“I was relieved, because we didn’t know where she was,” Shani’s father, Nissim Louk, said during an interview with i24 News. “Maybe they threw her into a well or maybe she’s buried somewhere.”

Nissim had previously told Israeli media that his daughter’s body was very well-preserved because it had been kept in a “deep and very cold tunnel.”

Louk’s remains were retrieved alongside the bodies of two others who were taken hostage on October 7 and killed while escaping the music festival: Amit Bouskila and Itshak Gelernter.

Louk, 23, attended the Nova music festival just inside Israel before it was attacked by gunmen from Palestinian militant group Hamas. Her lifeless body was seen in video on the back of a Hamas truck after the attack.

She was declared dead by the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs in late October. A source involved with her identification told CNN Louk’s death was announced after forensic examiners found a bone fragment from her skull.

Palestinians search for survivors after an Israeli airstrike on a residential building in Nuseirat Refugee Camp, Gaza Strip, on May 19.

An airstrike in central Gaza in the early hours of Sunday killed 35 people, including seven children and nine women, according to Al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital.

The hospital said the death toll from the strike in Nuseirat camp had steadily risen as more bodies were brought in. It appears many of the casualties resulted from the destruction of a block of houses in the area. Video showed civil defense teams pulling bodies from the rubble, but without heavy equipment to move the larger parts of the wreckage.

One woman, Um Mohammad Taha, told CNN Sunday that five houses had collapsed, including her sister’s, and that many were buried under the rubble, including children.

Mahomoud Abu Bilal told CNN that the strike occurred around 3 a.m., and that some 25 bodies from four or five families had been pulled from the rubble.

CNN has asked the Israel Defense Forces for a response on the airstrike in Nuseirat.