ICC Israeli arrest warrants – UK, Germany, US trying to block procedure
Dozens of organisations and countries, including the United Kingdom, Germany and the US, are trying to delay the International Criminal Court from issuing an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The court’s prosecutor, Karim Khan, requested warrants for Netanyahu, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, and three Hamas leaders, Yahya Sinwar, Mohammed Deif and Ismail Haniyeh, in May for alleged war crimes.
Released prisoners in Gaza show signs of torture
Palestinian prisoners released on Thursday displayed physical signs of torture
The Israeli military has released a group of at least eight Palestinian prisoners in central Gaza, with some showing signs of severe torture. The group, which included two women, arrived at Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir el-Balah in the morning after being released from Ofer Prison in the occupied West Bank.
“The prisoners who were released are completely exhausted. One of the females was unable to walk and was carried inside the emergency department on a stretcher,” said Al Jazeera’s Hind Khoudary, reporting from Deir el-Balah.
Khoudary said those released were not arrested at the same time. One of the male prisoners, an aid truck driver, was arrested at the Karem Abu Salem (Kerem Shalom) crossing. One of the released women said she was arrested when she visited the occupied West Bank with her child for treatment.
“They all said they were tortured, they all said they were threatened. They all said they were deprived of medicine and clothes. They were asked about Hamas members and Israeli captives in the Gaza Strip.”
Significant overcrowding, lack of hygiene, hunger, and cold inside Israeli prisons have led to diseases spreading. Human rights groups say the arrest of Palestinian women and girls has increased and they face torture, ill-treatment, and intentional neglect.
Since October 7 visits by the Red Cross to prisons in Israel have been stopped, suspending accountability.
One unidentified freed prisoner described his ordeal in a video statement.
“We were arrested by the Israeli soldiers who forced us to the ground and kept battering us. We were tortured for 30 consecutive days, our hands and legs tied throughout,” the bearded man of about 30 years old said.
“We were thrown pieces of stale bread as food and denied medicine too. We were electrically shocked, and verbally and physically abused day and night. I was even electric-shocked in my mouth.”
