ICC issues arrest warrants for Israeli PM, Hamas figure

Judges at the International Criminal Court have issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defence chief as well as a Hamas leader, Ibrahim al-Masri, for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity.

The move comes after the ICC prosecutor Karim Khan announced on May 20 that he was seeking arrest warrants for alleged crimes connected to the October 7, 2023 attacks on Israel by Hamas and the Israeli military response in the Gaza Strip.

The ICC said Israel's acceptance of the court's jurisdiction was not required.

Israel has rejected the jurisdiction of the Hague-based court and denies war crimes in the Gaza Strip.

Israel has said it killed al-Masri, also known as Mohammed Deif, in air strike but Hamas has neither confirmed nor denied this.

Earlier on Wednesday, Gaza health officials said Israeli military strikes across the enclave killed at least 48 people.

Gaza medics said the incidents included attacks on houses and a school sheltering displaced people in central Gaza, bombing of a hospital in northern Gaza and air strikes on the humanitarian-designated area of al-Mawasi and Rafah in southern Gaza.

Palestinian and UN officials say no place in the enclave is safe.

Hussam Abu Safiya, director of Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahiya, one of three medical facilities barely operational in the besieged northern area, said the hospital "was bombed across all its departments without warning, as we were trying to save an injured person in the intensive care unit" on Tuesday.

"Following the arrest of 45 members of the medical and surgical staff and the denial of entry to a replacement team, we are now losing wounded patients daily who could have survived if resources were available," he told Reuters by text message.

"Unfortunately, food and water are not allowed to enter, and not even a single ambulance is permitted access to the north."

There were 85 injured people, including children and women, at the hospital, six in the ICU.

Seventeen children had arrived with signs of malnutrition as a result of food shortages.

One man died of dehydration a day ago, Abu Safiya said.

Israeli operations in the Gaza Strip have focused for weeks on the northern edge of the territory, where the military has laid siege to three major towns and ordered residents to flee.

Residents in the three towns - Jabalia, Beit Lahiya and Beit Hanoun - said Israeli forces had blown up dozens of houses.

Palestinians say Israel appears determined to depopulate the area permanently to create a buffer zone along the northern edge of the enclave, which Israel denies.

Israel's 13-month campaign in Gaza has killed nearly 44,000 people and displaced nearly all the enclave's population at least once, according to Gaza officials.

The war was launched in response to an attack by Hamas-led fighters who killed 1200 people and captured more than 250 hostages in Israel on October 7, 2023, Israel has said.

Months of attempts to negotiate a ceasefire have yielded scant progress and negotiations are now on hold, with mediator Qatar having suspended its efforts until the sides are prepared to make concessions.

Speaking during a visit to Gaza Strip on Tuesday, Netanyahu said Hamas would not rule the Palestinian enclave after the war had ended and that Israel had destroyed the Islamist group's military capabilities.

Netanyahu also said Israel had not given up trying to locate the 101 remaining hostages believed to be still in the enclave, and he offered a reward for the return of each one.

Hamas wants a deal that ends the war while Netanyahu has vowed the war can end only once Hamas is eradicated.