[IMPORTANT] Hamas launches foot assault against settlements.

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Israel is now officially ruled by war criminals.

https://www.icc-cpi.int/news/situation- ... challenges

Israel is now officially ruled by war criminals.

https://www.icc-cpi.int/news/situation- ... challenges

Italy, the Netherlands and Canada on Thursday said they would comply with the International Criminal Court's (ICC) arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.

The Hague-based court announced the warrants earlier in the day, accusing Netanyahu and Gallant of war crimes and crimes against humanity over the war in Gaza. It also issued a warrant for the Palestinian resistance group's military chief Mohammed Deif.

Italian Defense Minister Guido Crosetto said his country would be obliged to arrest Netanyahu if he visited.

Crosetto – whose country holds the G-7 rotating presidency this year – told RAI television's Porta a Porta program that he believed the ICC was "wrong" to put Netanyahu and Gallant on the same level as Hamas.

But he said that if Netanyahu or Gallant "were to come to Italy, we would have to arrest them."

It was not a political choice but Italy was bound as a member of the ICC to act on the court's warrants, Crosetto said.

Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani had earlier been more cautious, saying: "We support the ICC, while always remembering that the court must play a legal role and not a political role.

"We will evaluate together with our allies what to do and how to interpret this decision."

The warrant marked the first time that a sitting leader of a major Western country has been accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity by a global court of justice.

The ICC panel said there were reasonable grounds to believe that both Netanyahu and his ex-defense minister bear responsibility for the war crime of starvation and the crimes against humanity of murder, persecution and other inhumane But he said that if Netanyahu or Gallant "were to come to Italy, we would have to arrest them."

It was not a political choice but Italy was bound as a member of the ICC to act on the court's warrants, Crosetto said.

Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani had earlier been more cautious, saying: "We support the ICC, while always remembering that the court must play a legal role and not a political role.

"We will evaluate together with our allies what to do and how to interpret this decision."

The warrant marked the first time that a sitting leader of a major Western country has been accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity by a global court of justice.

The conflict started after Hamas' cross-border attack against Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people.

Dutch Foreign Minister Caspar Veldkamp, whose country hosts the International Criminal Court, has confirmed the Netherlands would arrest Netanyahu if he arrived on Dutch soil.

"The line from the government is clear. We are obliged to cooperate with the ICC... we abide 100% by the Rome Statute," Veldkamp said in response to a question in parliament Thursday.

Josep Borrell, the European Union's foreign policy chief, underlined that the arrest warrants are a legal and not political matter, and that they are binding on all 27 EU member countries and other signatories to the ICC to implement.

"The tragedy in Gaza has to stop," Borrell told reporters during a visit to Jordan on Thursday. "It is not a political decision. It is the decision of an international court of justice, and the decision of the court has to be respected, and implemented."

"This decision is a binding decision on all state parties of the court, which include all members of the European Union," he added.

Separately, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau affirmed his country's support and compliance with the ICC warrants.

"First of all, as Canada has always said, it's really important that everyone abide by international law. This is something we've been calling on from the beginning of the conflict," Trudeau told reporters in the Toronto area.

Canada is one of the founding members of the International Criminal Court and the International Court of Justice.

Asked whether Netanyahu and Gallant would be arrested if they stepped foot in Canada, Trudeau said, "We stand up for international law, and we will abide by all the regulations and rulings of the international courts."

He noted the need to find a solution to the genocide in the Gaza Strip. "We need to see aid flowing into people who are facing famine and disease," he said.

Urging that all hostages should be released, Trudeau stressed the importance of a cease-fire and to "get back on track towards a two-state solution, with a peaceful Israel living alongside a peaceful Palestinian state."

The National Council of Canadian Muslims (NCCM) described Trudeau's remarks as "a serious and major step forward on the road to justice for Gaza and Palestine."

"Today, the Prime Minister did that in accepting that Canada would recognize the arrest warrants. This means, in theory, that Netanyahu and Gallant could be arrested if they stepped foot in Canada," it said.

Emphasizing that it is "an important moment," the Muslim group stated that "Canada has chosen to do the right thing."

It is an important step forward and we must continue to uphold international law and our commitment to human rights," it added.

Dozens of Jewish extremists in Hebron for an annual pilgrimage tried to attack the head of the IDF Central Command Maj. Gen. Avi Bluth who was in the flashpoint West Bank city to secure the gathering, the military says.

Five suspects have been arrested by police after they chased Bluth and the soldiers accompanying him, calling the IDF commander a “traitor.” The head of Central Command typically has a fraught relationship with settler extremists, since the army is tasked with trying to keep them in check in the West Bank.

The IDF says that the group of young suspects chased Bluth and tried to block an exit that the military needed for operational activity.

After five suspects were arrested, the gathering of rioters was dispersed, the army says, adding that it strongly condemns the violence on display this evening.

Each year, tens of thousands of Jewish worshippers visit Hebron for the annual pilgrimage tradition. Successive years have seen Jewish rioters target Palestinian locals whose movement in the city is further restricted by the IDF to secure the area for the pilgrims.

New Defense Minister Israel Katz announced an end to administrative detention orders for West Bank settlers on Friday, meaning Israel will now be using the controversial policy of holding suspects without charge only against Palestinian terror suspects.

While the practice is primarily deployed against Palestinians, it is also used against some extremist Jewish Israelis, which has drawn increasing criticism of the ruling Likud party by far-right coalition members. The measure sees individuals held without charge for up to six months at a time. The detentions can be renewed indefinitely while allowing military prosecutors to keep suspects from being able to see the evidence against them.

“In a reality where the Jewish settlement in Judea and Samaria is subject to serious Palestinian terror threats and unjustified international sanctions are taken against the settlers, it is not appropriate for the State of Israel to take such a severe measure against the people of the settlements,” Katz said in a statement, referring to the West Bank by its biblical name.

Katz met with Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar this week and told him that he had decided “to stop the use of administrative detention orders against Jewish settlers in Judea and Samaria, and asked him to put alternative tools in place,” Katz’s office said.

The Shin Bet has reportedly warned against the move, with Bar saying in June that banning the measure against Israelis “will result in an immediate, severe and serious harm to the security of the state” in cases where there is clear information that a suspect may carry out a terror attack.

The Palestinian Authority swiftly hit out at the decision saying that it “encourages extremist settlers to commit terrorism against Palestinians, their land and their properties, while giving them an additional sense of impunity and protection.”

Administrative detention policies allow the Defense Ministry to hold suspects without charge, while administrative restraining orders bar them from visiting certain areas or communicating with certain people. The tool is typically used when authorities have intelligence tying a suspect to a crime but do not have enough evidence for charges to stand up in a court of law.