Online Reporter
JERUSALEM. – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his security cabinet met yesterday o give final approval to the new offensive on Gaza City, an Israeli official told Xinhua.
It came a day after Israel’s military spokesman Effie Defrin said ground assaults were already under way in Gaza City’s Zaytun neighbourhood and the nearby town of Jabalia, with more forces set to join the fighting.
According to the military, 60 000 reservists had been called up, with another 20 000 to follow in the coming days. The military said it now holds “operational control” over about 75 percent of Gaza.
The offensive, which has drawn fierce international criticism, was described by Netanyahu as an attempt to “defeat Hamas and conquer Gaza City.”
Also yesterday, the Israeli military began making what it called “warning calls” to medical officials and international organisations in northern Gaza, telling them to evacuate the population from Gaza City to southern Gaza ahead of the new offensive.
Gaza-based health authorities said in an update yesterday that Israeli attacks on Gaza killed at least 70 people, including 18 aid workers, and injured 356, including 117 aid workers, over the past 24 hours.
Since October 7, 2023, Israel’s ongoing military campaign in Gaza has killed 62 192 people and injured 157 114 others, they said, adding that starvation and malnutrition in Gaza have caused 271 deaths, including 112 children.
Meanwhile, the Senegalese government expressed its “astonishment” yesterday following sanctions imposed by the United States against four judges of the International Criminal Court (ICC), including a Senegalese judge.
The Senegalese Ministry of African Integration and Foreign Affairs, in a statement, confirmed that Mame Mandiaye Niang was among those targeted by the sanctions, describing the move as a “serious infringement” on the independence of international justice.
In a statement on Wednesday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio accused Nicolas Guillou (France), Nazhat Shameem Khan (Fiji), Mame Mandiaye Niang (Senegal), and Kimberly Prost (Canada) of having “directly participated in efforts undertaken by the ICC to investigate, arrest, detain, or prosecute US or Israeli nationals without the consent of either country.”
“Senegal calls on the US authorities to lift these sanctions, which constitute a serious violation of the principle of judicial independence and of the right of ICC judges to freely and calmly carry out the mandate entrusted to them by the 125 States Parties to the Rome Statute,” the Senegalese ministry said.
The Rome Statute, which defines the jurisdiction of the ICC, was first ratified by Senegal. The statement added that Senegal reaffirmed its “full solidarity with Judge Niang” and the other magistrates targeted by the US sanctions, while the Ministry of African Integration and Foreign Affairs assured the ICC of its “steadfast support.” – Xinhua
