US blasts 'profoundly wrong-headed' effort to seek arrest warrant for Netanyahu: Updates

The Biden administration is willing to work with Congress to respond to the International Criminal Court prosecutor's "profoundly wrong-headed" decision seeking to issue arrest warrants on Israeli leaders over the Gaza war, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Tuesday.

ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan is also seeking warrants charging crimes against humanity and other war crimes against three Hamas leaders. Israel on Tuesday urged "nations of the civilized world" to reject the warrants sought against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.

Blinken, speaking at a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing, said Khan's decision to seek the warrants could complicate talks aimed at a cease-fire and hostage release. Some Republican members of Congress have threatened legislation to impose sanctions on the ICC.

A bipartisan group of senators led by Republican Lindsey Graham of South Carolina issued a statement Tuesday accusing the ICC of jeopardizing efforts toward bringing home hostages, increasing humanitarian aid and creating sustainable peace in the Middle East.

“The application for arrest warrants also draws a false equivalence between Israel with its longstanding commitment to the rule of law, and Hamas’ theocratic, autocratic and unaccountable rule over Gaza," the statement said. "To state the obvious: Israel is a functioning democracy, while Hamas is a terrorist organization."

Arrest warrants: Warrants sought for Israel's Benjamin Netanyahu, Hamas leader Sinwar on war crimes charges

Developments:

∎ Blinken's Senate testimony was interrupted by pro-Palestinian protesters calling him a "butcher'' and a "war criminal.''

∎ Palestinian health authorities said seven Palestinians were killed Tuesday during an Israeli raid in the West Bank city of Jenin, a hotspot of militant activity. The Israel Defense Forces said it was targeting armed militants.

∎ The U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) said Tuesday that food distribution in Gaza's besieged southern city of Rafah was suspended because of a lack of supplies and security. Also Tuesday, the Pentagon said it has found new routes to transport aid after trucks carrying supplies from a U.S.-built pier on northern Gaza were intercepted and looted, prompting deliveries to be halted for the last three days.

∎ A women's Euro 2025 qualifying soccer match between Scotland and Israel in Glasgow on May 31 will be played without fans because of the potential for disruptive protests, the Scottish Football Association said Tuesday.

∎  Qatar's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Majed Al-Ansari said Tuesday that the Gaza cease-fire and hostage release talks between Israel and Hamas remain “close to a stalemate."

The ICC is seeking arrest warrants: What does that mean and what is next?

The charges will go before a panel of 18 ICC judges to review the evidence. If the judges agree with the prosecutor's findings, warrants will be issued. The Biden administration claims the warrants could be a hurdle in ongoing U.S. efforts to secure a cease-fire, although talks have taken place for months with little progress.

If the warrants are issued, the court has no arrest powers and must rely on member states to apprehend suspects. The ICC does not conduct trials without the accused being present. Neither Israel nor the U.S. nor Qatar − home to some top Hamas leaders − are members of the ICC, so practically speaking none of the accused face imminent arrest. However, the 124 member nations would be obligated to take those charged into custody. That could limit travel for Netanyahu and the other accused.

Should the defendants ever be taken into custody, a trial could take place. A guilty verdict would allow judges to order restitution, compensation and rehabilitation to victims. The judges may also impose a prison sentence and fines. The maximum sentence is 30 years, but the court may impose a life sentence in extreme cases.

Multiple allies back ICC on warrants

Netanyahu dispatched an envoy to France on Tuesday in an attempt to shore up backing. France was among multiple European allies standing behind the ICC.

"France supports the International Criminal Court, its independence and the fight against impunity in all situations," the French Foreign Ministry said in a statement. Belgium Foreign Affairs Minister Hadja Lahbib called the warrants an important step in the investigation, saying "crimes committed in Gaza must be prosecuted at the highest level, regardless of the perpetrators." Slovenia's Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs issued a statement saying war crimes in Israel and in Gaza must be prosecuted "independently and impartially regardless of the perpetrators."

Biden, however, railed against the Israeli warrants as outrageous and reiterated firm U.S. support for Israel in the war. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, former president of the European Council, on Tuesday agreed with Biden that "an attempt to show that the prime minister of Israel and the leaders of a terrorist organizations are the same ... is unacceptable."

Netanyahu rips prosecutor's 'chutzpah'

Khan said he has "reason to believe" Netanyahu and Gallant bear criminal responsibility for the starvation of Palestinians as a weapon of war, intentionally directing attacks on civilians and murder. Netanyahu accused Khan of a "new antisemitism" that the prime minister said has rolled across college campuses to the International Criminal Court in The Hague.

“With what chutzpah do you dare compare the monsters of Hamas to the soldiers of the IDF, the most moral army in the world?” Netanyahu said in an address to the nation translated by the Times of Israel. “With what audacity do you compare between the Hamas that murdered, burned, butchered, raped and kidnapped our brothers and sisters, and the IDF soldiers who are fighting a just war that is unparalleled, with a morality that is unmatched?”

Patients rushed out of Gaza hospital after missile strikes

Patients in a northern Gaza hospital were rushed out onto the street on beds and stretchers Tuesday after Israeli missiles hit the facility's emergency department, Reuters reported.

The news agency said video it obtained showed medical personnel taking the patients out of Kamal Adwan Hospital in the Jabalia refugee neighborhood, where clashes with Israeli forces have restarted after months of relative calm as Hamas has tried to reestablish itself in the area.

Hussam Abu Safia, who runs the hospital, said the first missile hit the emergency department entrance, followed by another strike that kept patients and medics from going back in, and then a third projectile smashed against a nearby building.

"We really never imagined that one day the emergency department will be hit,'' he said. "The emergency department provides a service for children, the elderly and people inside the departments of the hospital.”

The Health Ministry said patients were being moved to other medical facilities in northern Gaza. The IDF told Reuters it was reviewing reports of the attack and "the possibility that it was IDF’s stray fire that was not directed at the hospital.”

Israel reverses course after seizing Associated Press equipment

Israeli Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi said Tuesday he has rescinded the decision to seize camera equipment from The Associated Press and ordered that it be returned, pending a decision by the Ministry of Defense, which he said wished to examine the matter. The confiscation drew an outcry from media groups and a concerned reaction from the U.S.

Israeli officials seized broadcasting equipment from AP earlier in the day and accused the news organization of violating a new media law by providing images to Qatar-based Al Jazeera, which was shut down in Israel this month. The new law grants the government power to temporarily ban broadcasts by international news outlets in Israel if they are deemed a threat to national security.Israeli officials warned AP last week to stop the live transmission, but the media outlet refused.

“The shutdown was not based on the content of the feed but rather an abusive use by the Israeli government of the country’s new foreign broadcaster law," AP spokesperson Lauren Easton said.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, asked about Israel's action, called it "concerning" and said the White House was looking into the matter. "We stand firm in our belief ... in making sure that journalists have ability and the right to do the job that's incredibly important for them to do," she said.

Hamas says more Israelis should face criminal charges

Hamas leaders Yahya Sinwar, Mohammed Deif and Ismail Haniyeh are accused of extermination, murder and the taking of hostages as crimes against humanity or war crimes. They could also be held responsible for rape, sexual violence, torture and other cruel treatment against Israeli hostages.

Hamas denounced in a statement the warrants against its leaders as an attempt to "equate the victim with the executioner." The statement claimed international conventions and resolutions provide the Palestinian people the "right to resist the occupation in all forms, including armed resistance."

The statement supported the warrants against Netanyahu and Gallant but said other Israeli leaders and soldiers should be similarly charged. All were proved to be involved in committing the "crimes of genocide, aggression and crimes against humanity," the statement said. It added that the warrants against Netanyahu and Gallant "came seven months late, during which the Israeli occupation committed thousands of crimes against Palestinian civilians, including children, women, doctors and journalists, and destroyed private and public property, mosques, churches and hospitals."

US envoy: Israel may need to consider 'Palestinian governance'

Forging formal Israeli-Saudi relations would require a calming of the Gaza war and a discussion of prospects for "Palestinian governance," the U.S. envoy to Jerusalem said Tuesday. Ambassador Jack Lew, speaking at a conference hosted by the Israel Democracy Institute, said he believes the strategic benefit for Israel is worth the risk, "but that's a decision that the government of Israel will have to make and the people of Israel will have to make."

A deal to normalize Saudi-Israeli relations appeared near in October before Hamas-led attackers stormed into Israel, killing almost 1,200 people and taking more than 240 hostages. Israel's ensuing military campaign in Gaza has killed more than 35,000 Palestinians, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, and has refueled global demands for a free Palestinian state − the so-called "two state solution." The Saudis issued a statement in February saying "there will be no diplomatic relations with Israel unless an independent Palestinian state is recognized." Netanyahu has said Israel must retain security control of Gaza after the war.

Contributing: Reuters

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Israel war updates: Netanyahu says criminal charges 'new antisemitism'