Israel appeals ICC arrest warrants; Gaza death toll nears 45,000

TEL AVIV — Israel has appealed the arrest warrants the International Criminal Court issued for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant as the official death toll in Gaza nears 45,000, according to Palestinian health authorities.

The enclave was pushed closer to the grim milestone by Israeli airstrikes that killed at least 26 people Sunday, including 16 at a school sheltering displaced Palestinians in northern Gaza.

Oren Marmorstein, a spokesperson for Israel’s Foreign Affairs Ministry, confirmed to NBC News on Sunday that Israel had filed the appeal against the ICC warrants.

The warrants were related to “crimes against humanity and war crimes committed from at least 8 October, 2023 until at least 20 May 2024,” including “the war crime of starvation as a method of warfare; and the crimes against humanity of murder, persecution, and other inhumane acts.”

Marmorstein said Israel, which is not a member of the ICC, “categorically rejects the baseless accusations” and is “determined to defend the justice of its positions and to strongly oppose the miscarriage of justice.”

Foreign Minister Gideon Saar also said he ordered the closure of Ireland’s embassy in the country because of “the extreme anti-Israel policies of the Irish government.” 

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The Irish government said last week it would ask the International Court of Justice to broaden its definition of genocide, claiming Israel has engaged in the “collective punishment” of people in Gaza.

While the closure is another step in Israel’s growing isolation from the international community, Netanyahu’s spokesperson, Omer Dostri, has confirmed that Netanyahu spoke with President-elect Donald Trump on Saturday about regional developments in Lebanon, Syria and Gaza and the threat posed by Iran.

Netanyahu's office said Sunday his government has approved plans to expand settlements in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, allocating over $11 million to a plan aimed at "doubling" its population, currently around 20,000. In 2019, Trump signed an order recognizing Israeli sovereignty over the area, which was seized from Syria in 1967.

Meanwhile in Gaza, Israel bombed clusters of houses and set some ablaze in three towns, also attacking Khalil Aweida, a school-turned-shelter, before it stormed it and ordered displaced families to head toward Gaza City, according to Reuters, citing medics and residents. 

Mohammed Abu Afash, director of Palestinian Medical Relief, a nongovernment organization, warned Sunday of an "environmental disaster" in the north due to the accumulation of bodies in the streets and “their devouring by stray dogs and cats,” adding that the World Health Organization had delivered limited fuel and medical supplies amid the siege.

The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Israel attacked the school-turned-shelter after it launched a wave of airstrikes Saturday, which killed at least 49 people, seven of them during an attack on another school sheltering displaced Palestinians, health officials said. 

They said women and children were among the dead, including a girl who was only 2 days old.

The Israeli military has been operating in northern Gaza for over two months, though the siege of the Gaza Strip has lasted for 15 months, a response to the Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attack in which roughly 1,200 people were killed in Israel and around 250 people were taken hostage.

Since then, nearly 45,000 people have been killed in Gaza, most of them women and children, while over 105,000 people have been injured, and many victims remain buried under rubble.

Meanwhile, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, tensions have escalated after at least one person was killed following violent clashes between Palestinian Authority forces and Palestinian militants in the city of Jenin. 

Western-backed PA forces have set up checkpoints in the city and claimed their forces were undertaking security operations to restore law and order in the refugee camp suburb, a stronghold of militants alienated from Palestinian leadership. 

Philippe Lazzarini, commissioner-general of the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees, said Saturday that it had suspended services in Jenin Camp for another day following the violence, with children unable to attend school and residents cut off from health care and other essential services.

“All sides of these internal confrontations need to uphold the basic principles of international law that guarantee the safety of civilians & their access to basic services in all situations,” Lazzarini said on X.

Freddie Clayton reported from London and Omer Bekin from Tel Aviv.