Press TV – November 21, 2024
ICC issues arrest warrants for Netanyahu, Gallant for war crimes
The International Criminal Court (ICC) has issued arrest warrants for Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former minister of military affairs Yoav Gallant over war crimes against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
The court’s Pre-Trial Chamber I issued warrants of arrest for Netanyahu and Gallant "for crimes against humanity and war crimes committed from at least 8 October 2023 until at least 20 May 2024, the day the Prosecution filed the applications for warrants of arrest”, it confirmed in a statement Thursday.
It is the first instance in the court's 22-year history it has issued arrest warrants for Western-allied senior officials.
In its statement, the ICC's Pre-Trial Chamber I, a panel of three judges, said it has rejected appeals by Israel challenging its jurisdiction.
The chamber said it has decided to release the arrest warrants because "conduct similar to that addressed in the warrant of arrest appears to be ongoing", referring to Israel's ongoing onslaught on Gaza.
Netanyahu and Gallant, it said, “each bear criminal responsibility” for “the war crime of starvation as a method of warfare; and the crimes against humanity of murder, persecution, and other inhumane acts,” as well as “intentionally directing an attack against the civilian population.”
All 124 states that signed the Rome Statute, the treaty that established the court, are now under an obligation to arrest the wanted individuals and hand them over to the ICC in the Hague.
The court relies on the cooperation of member states to arrest and surrender suspects. The Netherlands' foreign minister quickly said his country was prepared to enforce the warrants while 93 nations earlier reiterated their support for the ICC.
Triestino Mariniello, a lawyer representing Palestinian victims at the ICC, called the warrants "a historic decision".
He noted that the court had endured "pressure and threats of sanctions" from the US government, but acted nonetheless.
As expected, the Tel Aviv regime rejected the rulings, with its security minister Itamar Ben Gvir calling the warrants “anti-Semitic through and through.”
The ICC said Israel’s acceptance of the court’s jurisdiction was not required.
Israel and its major ally, the United States, are not members of the court.
Israel unleashed its bloody Gaza onslaught on October 7, 2023. So far, it has killed at least 43,985 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and injured 104,092 others, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.
Israel faces an ongoing South Africa-led genocide case at the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
Houthi: Muslims must engage in jihad to protect Palestine, region against Israel
The leader of Yemen’s Ansarullah resistance movement has called upon all Muslim nations to join forces and engage in jihad against the enemies, emphasizing they have no other viable option in the face of American-Israeli plots aimed at their subjugation.
“Had Arabs and Muslims implemented a Qur'anic and faith-based approach to jihad, they would have been able to protect Palestinian territories and the entire region against the Zionist entity,” Houthi said on Thursday as he delivered a televised speech broadcast from the Yemeni capital Sana’a.
The Ansarullah leader described hollow appeals as well as empty summits and statements in support of Gaza from Arab and Muslim leaders as “futile.”
He stressed that genuine faith-driven action is necessary to liberate people from fears and elevate the Muslim Ummah to confront challenges effectively.
Houthi praised the sacrifices made by martyrs on the path to protect Islamic values, stating that Washington and the Tel Aviv regime are hell-bent on subjugating the whole region.
“The US should be held accountable for its complicity in all crimes that Zionists have committed over the past decades in Palestine, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and Egypt," he said.
“Britain and France colluded with the US in housing Zionist gangs on Palestinian lands, and their subsequent recruitment, arming and empowerment,” the Ansarullah chief said.
He said Muslim nations must support the resistance in Gaza and Lebanon and elsewhere.
“Fighters in Gaza are steadfast, and continue to inflict painful blows on the Israeli enemy. Hezbollah is gaining remarkable achievements and is standing firm in the face of the unprecedented aggression against Lebanon.
“Muslim nations should take the right path by supporting combatants in Palestine, Lebanon, Iraq and Yemen,” Houthi said.
The Ansarullah leader pointed out that what the supporters of savage and criminal Zionism say about freedom, human rights, and civilization are nothing but misleading and deceptive remarks.
He pointed to the bloody history of Americans, British, French, and Germans, stating that their criminal record involved the killing of millions of people by extremely vicious methods.
Houthi underlined that the US veto in the Security Council against a ceasefire resolution in Gaza reflects Washington's aggressive and criminal approach toward Arabs and Muslims.
Houthi finally called upon all walks of Yemeni society to take to the streets across the country on Friday and participate in massive rallies in solidarity with Palestinian and Lebanese nations.
Kiev says Russia launched first 'ICBM' intercontinental missile attack against Ukraine
Ukraine says Russian forces have launched an intercontinental missile in their first such attack against the country.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Thursday that Russia launched an intercontinental ballistic missile overnight at one of its cities.
"Today it was a new Russian missile. All the parameters: speed, altitude -- match those of an intercontinental ballistic missile [ICBM]," Zelensky said in a statement on social media. "All expert evaluations are underway."
Zelensky did not provide any proof that an ICBM was used in the attack on the central city of Dnipro, apparently armed with conventional warheads. If his claim is confirmed, it would be the first time Russian forces have used such a weapon in the war.
Two American government sources told US media the missile fired by the Russian forces was an intermediate-range ballistic missile or IRBM.
The alleged attack comes in a week when tensions have repeatedly soared, as the Biden administration lifted the prohibition to use long-range missiles inside Russia and the Kremlin lowered its threshold for launching nuclear weapons.
Earlier on Thursday, Russia said it shot down two British-made Storm Shadow cruise missiles fired from Ukraine.
"Air defense systems shot down two UK-made Storm Shadow cruise missiles, six US-made HIMARS rockets, and 67 fixed-wing drones," the Russian Ministry of Defense said.
UK and US media earlier reported that Ukraine fired a barrage of British-made Storm Shadow cruise missiles inside Russia on Wednesday.
"This is a new escalation. It is a very irresponsible stance taken by the outgoing [US President Joe Biden’s] administration," Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said.
Russia’s Ministry of Defense said Ukraine fired ATACMS missiles at Russia’s Bryansk region on Tuesday night. Five missiles were intercepted by Pantsir and S-400 systems, while one was damaged.
The long-range UK-made Storm Shadow missiles were used by Ukraine for the first time, reportedly striking the Kursk region.
Russian President Vladimir Putin lowered the nation's nuclear weapons threshold after the outgoing Biden administration removed the ban on Kiev to use Western-supplied long-range missiles against Russia.
On Tuesday, Putin signed a decree revising Russia’s nuclear doctrine to indicate the Kremlin's preparedness to respond aggressively to Ukrainian strikes inside Russia.
The old doctrine had a higher threshold for the kind of conventional attack that could trigger a nuclear response by Russia, specifying that an attack must threaten “the very existence of the state” to qualify for nuclear retaliation.
Months ago, western media reports said that the Americans, the British and the Germans had begun to provide Kiev with long-range missiles.
Al Mayadeen – November 21, 2024
Israel destroyed huge Gaza areas for crops; 90% of cattle killed: UN
Before the outset of the war, farms covered around 40% of Gaza, producing enough vegetables, eggs, fresh milk, poultry, and fish to supply roughly one-third of local demand.
More than 90% of livestock in Gaza have perished, and around 70% of cropland has been destroyed or damaged since the start of the Israeli war on Gaza, according to a UN study of satellite images.
Over half of the sheep and goat herds have been killed and more than three-quarters of the territory's famed orchards have been destroyed or damaged, according to a September study.
Last week, Rein Paulsen, head of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization's Office of Emergencies and Resilience, stated that local food production in Gaza has been "decimated", telling the UNSC that vehicle tracks, razing, and shelling have caused significant damage to farmland, infrastructure, wells, and other productive infrastructure, increasing the risk of famine.
Before the outset of the war last year, farms covered around 40% of Gaza, producing enough vegetables, eggs, fresh milk, poultry, and fish to supply roughly one-third of local demand. Many families owned their own olive or fruit trees.
Faraj Jarudat, who was forced to evacuate his farm in northern Gaza, said his three cows and 60 sheep had perished, either due to Israeli bombing or a shortage of feed.
According to Jarudat, friends and former neighbors who visited the site informed him that his trees and houses once stood were uprooted and destroyed by Israeli soldiers. The region near Beit Lahia, where he lived, has seen intense violence in recent weeks.
"The farm and all of our homes - my home and homes of my children - were bulldozed," he expressed.
Ismael al-Rahal, 49, a farmer from northern Gaza, said only a few of his 65 sheep survived, explaining how he had to move them with him each time he had to flee. He explained to the UN how food prices were extremely high, forcing his family to cut back on their food to feed the sheep.
According to Paulsen, in some areas of Gaza, farmers, fishermen, and livestock owners are risking their lives to continue producing. He told the UN how "the significant levels of damage … are exacerbating the humanitarian and hunger crisis on the ground and increasing the risk of famine. Food supply across [Gaza] has sharply deteriorated while food availability is at an all-time low."
UN warns of catastrophic humanitarian Crisis in Gaza as winter looms
The humanitarian situation in Gaza has reached catastrophic levels, with widespread displacement and destruction, UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process Tor Wennesland warned on Monday.
Speaking at a UN Security Council meeting on the Middle East, Wennesland sounded the alarm on the dire conditions in Gaza, particularly in the north, describing the situation as marked by a "disturbing disregard for international humanitarian law."
"As this Council has been briefed repeatedly, the humanitarian situation in Gaza, as winter begins, is catastrophic, particularly developments in the north of Gaza with a large-scale and near-total displacement of the population and widespread destruction and clearing of land, amidst what looks like a disturbing disregard for international humanitarian law," Wennesland said.
Wennesland highlighted the difficulties faced by humanitarian agencies in Gaza, citing a dangerous operational environment and access restrictions that hinder aid efforts. He stressed the need for unrestricted access to deliver aid and emphasized the importance of a political solution to address the root causes of the violence, warning that without it, the humanitarian situation will not improve.
Yemeni forces seize Israeli ship in fresh pro-Palestinian operation
Yemen’s Armed Forces seize an Israeli ship in the Red Sea in yet another operation in support of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, who have been enduring a US-backed genocidal war and siege for more than 13 months.
In a statement released on Wednesday, the forces announced “conducting a military operation in the Red Sea, which resulted in the seizure of an Israeli ship and its escort to the Yemeni coast.”
“The Yemeni Armed Forces are dealing with the ship's crew according to the teachings and values of our Islamic religion,” they added.
According to the statement, the operation was carried out in line with the directives of leader of Yemen’s popular resistance movement Ansarullah, Abdul-Malik al-Houthi, and in support of “the oppressed Palestinian people and what they are subjected to from the unjust siege and the continuation of horrific and heinous massacres by the Israeli enemy.”
The Yemeni forces have been conducting hundreds of strikes against Israeli targets inside the occupied Palestinian territories in retaliation for the Israeli regime’s October 2023-present war on Gaza that has so far claimed the lives of nearly 44,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children.
The forces have also been targeting Israeli ships as well as vessels heading towards or away from the territories as a means of piling up economic pressure on the regime.
Yemen’s Military Media, meanwhile, released a video, showing a visit by Yemeni Navy Commander Vice Admiral Abdullah Salim al-Nakhei to an Israeli vessel caught off the Yemeni coastline in November 2023, which was identified as Galaxy Leader.
Separately, the Yemeni forces issued a documentary about the operation that led to the vessel’s capture that also showcased their Asif anti-ship ballistic missile.
In the Wednesday statement, the forces warned “all ships belonging to the Israeli enemy or those dealing with it that they will become a legitimate target for the Armed Forces.”
“We urge all countries whose nationals are working in the Red Sea to stay away from any work or activity with Israeli ships or ships owned by Israelis.”
According to the forces, “the entity threatening the security and stability of the region and international waterways is the Zionist entity.”
“The international community, if it is keen on the security and stability of the region and not expanding the conflict, should stop the Israeli aggression on Gaza.”
The Yemeni military has also been targeting American vessels, including warships and aircraft carriers, off the country’s coast as a means of protesting the United States all-out political, military, and intelligence support for the Israeli aggression, and in retaliation to the attacks that the US has been conducting against Yemen in an attempt to force it into stopping its anti-Israeli strikes.
The operations featured a high-profile strike against the USS Abraham Lincoln carrier in the Arabian Sea last week.
Commenting on the operations, Lebanon’s al-Akhbar paper said, “In response, the US has escalated its military strategy, deploying B-52 strategic bombers to its Central Command operations area in Bahrain.”
“Analysts attribute this deployment to Washington's recognition of the high costs and limited efficacy of its naval presence in the Red Sea.”
According to the daily, “The Pentagon is [also] reportedly shifting to aerial strategies to mitigate Yemeni attacks, considering the vulnerabilities of its carriers. Discussions about using Saudi bases for logistical support reflect this recalibration, though Saudi Arabia has yet to officially respond.”
Yemen has vowed to sustain the pro-Palestinian operations until the Israeli regime stopped the war and concomitant siege, and the regime’s allies stopped their support for the aggression.
