Israel has submitted an “official challenge” to a request from the International Criminal Court prosecutor for an arrest warrant against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

ICC prosecutor Karim Khan in May requested the court issue arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Defence Minister Yoav Gallant over alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

Israel has waged war in Gaza against Hamas since the Palestinian Islamist group’s unprecedented attack on southern Israel on October 7.

“The State of Israel submitted today its official challenge to the ICC’s jurisdiction, as well as the legality of the prosecutor’s requests for arrest warrants against Israel’s prime minister and minister of defence,” foreign ministry spokesman Oren Marmorstein said on X.

Khan also sought warrants against top Hamas leaders Yahya Sinwar, Ismail Haniyeh and Mohammed Deif on suspicion of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

The prosecutor dropped the application for Haniyeh on August 2 “because of the changed circumstances caused by Mr Haniyeh’s death” in Tehran on July 31, the ICC said in a statement this month.

According to Israel, Deif was killed by a strike on July 13 in southern Gaza, though Hamas denies he is dead.

The court is still weighing Khan’s application for an arrest warrant for Netanyahu and Gallant.

In August, Khan’s office urged the court to take action “with utmost urgency”, saying that it was “settled law that the court has jurisdiction in this situation”.

Hamas’s October 7 attacks that sparked the Gaza war resulted in the deaths of 1,205 people, mostly civilians, on the Israeli side, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures that include hostages killed in captivity.

Out of 251 hostages seized by militants, 97 are still held in Gaza, including 33 the Israeli military says are dead.

Israel’s retaliatory military offensive has killed at least 41,272 people in Gaza, most of them civilians, according to figures provided by the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry. The United Nations has acknowledged the figures as reliable.

Unlike the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which deals with disputes between countries, the ICC tries individuals suspected of the most heinous crimes. It is the world’s only independent court set up to probe the gravest offences, including genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity.

However, it relies on its member states to carry out arrest warrants and has no police force of its own.

Khan’s charges against Netanyahu and Gallant include “starvation of civilians”, “extermination”, and “intentionally directing attacks against a civilian population”.

US President Joe Biden has denounced Khan’s bid for arrest warrants for the Israeli officials as “outrageous”, saying “there is no equivalence — none — between Israel and Hamas”.

Neither the United States nor Israel are members of the court, but accused parties are allowed to raise legal challenges even if they are not members.

The Israeli challenges were submitted to the court’s pre-trial judges, who will decide whether or not to issue arrest warrants, Israeli officials said.

Marmorstein said Khan had failed “to provide Israel with the opportunity to exercise its right to investigate by itself the claims raised by the prosecutor, before proceeding.”

UN condemns Lebanon device blasts as possible war crime

The United Nations has denounced the detonation of handheld communication devices used by Hezbollah operatives in Lebanon this week, saying the attack violated international law and could constitute a war crime.

“International humanitarian law prohibits the use of booby-trap devices in the form of apparently harmless portable objects,” the UN’s High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Turk, told the Security Council, adding that it “is a war crime to commit violence intended to spread terror among civilians”.

The blasts that killed at least 37 people and wounded nearly 3,000 over two days targeted communication devices used by the Iran-backed Hezbollah group. Pagers and walkie-talkies exploded as their users were shopping in supermarkets, walking on streets and attending funerals, plunging the country into panic.

Hezbollah blamed Israel for the blasts

“I am appalled by the breadth and impact of the attacks,” Turk said. “These attacks represent a new development in warfare, where communication tools become weapons,” he added. “This cannot be the new normal.”

Israel has not commented on the operation but has said it will widen the scope of its war in Gaza to include the Lebanon front.

Speaking to reporters, Israel’s ambassador to the UN refused to comment on the device blasts. “But I can tell you that we will do everything we can to target those terrorists,” Danny Danon said.

He spoke after Israel announced it had killed the commander of Hezbollah’s elite unit in a strike on Beirut on Friday.

“We have no intention to enter a war with Hezbollah in Lebanon, but we cannot continue the way it is,” Danon said, noting that Israel prefers a diplomatic solution and wants to “prevent” further escalation.

Iran-backed Hezbollah is an ally of Palestinian militant group Hamas, which has been fighting a war in Gaza since its October 7 attack on Israel.

For nearly a year, the focus of Israel’s firepower has been on Gaza but its troops have also been engaged in near-daily clashes with Hezbollah militants along its northern border.

Hundreds have been killed in Lebanon, most of them fighters, and dozens in Israel, including soldiers.

Hezbollah punishes IDF for pager attack

In a stunning escalation, Hezbollah launched a barrage of retaliatory rockets at Israeli military command centres and illegal settlements following deadly airstrikes in Beirut that left at least nine dead and dozens wounded. This video breaks down the timeline of events, including the targets hit and the implications for the ongoing conflict.

Hezbollah identified Mishar Air base as responsible for asassinations and military operations. Israel’s air strike left at least nine dead and 59 injured. The drone strikes targeted Beiruit’s densley popoulated Dayiyeh suburb, causing damage.

Prime Minister Najib Mikati condemned the actions, calling them m”disregards for humanitarian concern”.

Hezbollah pager attack result of 15-year, US source reveals

According to a US source, Israel had a hand in manufacturing the pagers that exploded on Hezbollah terrorists this week. The CIA had long been hesitant to employ such tactics due to the high risk to innocent civilians, the source added.

The intelligence source said that the planning for the attack involved the use of shell companies, with multiple layers of Israeli intelligence officers and their assets fronting a legitimate company that produced the pagers. Many involved in the work were reportedly unaware of their true employers.

The pagers were equipped with one to two ounces of explosives and a remote trigger switch, the source confirmed. The explosions in Lebanon over the past two days, triggered remotely, have resulted in at least 37 deaths and 2,931 injuries.

Israel, Hezbollah trade strikes as death toll rises from Beirut attack

The death toll from a “targeted attack” by the Israeli military on a Beirut suburb Friday rose to 37, including seven women and three children, Lebanon’s health minister said on Saturday, as Israel and the militant group Hezbollah continued to trade strikes. The US also urged Americans in Lebanon to leave the country. 

Firass Abiad told reporters that 68 people were also wounded in the Friday attack, of whom 15 remain hospitalised. He said search and rescue operations are ongoing and the number of casualties will likely rise.

The strike – the deadliest targeting the Lebanese capital since the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah war – hit a densely-populated southern neighbourhood on Friday afternoon during rush hour as people returned home.

The Israeli military said Saturday it killed 16 Hezbollah operatives. Among those killed were Hezbollah commander Ibrahim Aqil, who was in charge of the group’s elite Radwan Force, and Ahmed Wahbi, another senior commander in the group’s military wing. Iran-backed Hezbollah said Friday night that 15 of its operatives were killed by Israeli forces, but did not elaborate on the location of these deaths.

The United States had previously offered a “reward of up to $7 million for information leading to the identification, location, arrest, and or conviction” of Aqil, who it has said was a leader of Hezbollah in the 1980s, when the group claimed responsibility for the 1983 bombing of the US Embassy in Beirut, which killed more than 300 people, and the US Marines barracks in October 1983, which killed 241 US personnel.

White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan called Akil’s death “a good outcome” and said he had “American blood on his hands” for the embassy attack.

“You know, 1983 seems like a long time ago,” Sullivan said. “But for a lot of families and a lot of people, they’re still living with it every day.”

Lebanon Prime Minister Najib Mikati said Saturday he will not go to New York to attend the United Nations General Assembly later this month because of the ongoing acts of violence with Israel. 

The Israeli military said that about 90 rockets had been fired at northern Israel from Lebanon on Saturday, and that it struck more than 400 rocket launchers in Lebanon.

It wasn’t immediately clear if anyone was killed or wounded in the back-and-forth attacks between Israel and Hezbollah.

Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, an Israeli Defence Forces spokesperson, announced updated safety guidelines for areas north of Haifa, including caps on gatherings of 30 people in open spaces and 300 in enclosed spaces. Work and school can continue if people can reach protected areas promptly.

In practice, the new guidelines likely mean school will be cancelled in parts of the north, since students and teachers wouldn’t be able to reach shelters in the required time.

Within an hour of the announcement, Sunday classes were cancelled in at least one border region in western Galilee. The cancellations include locations well outside the ordinary five-kilometre evacuation zone in northern Israel.

The US Department of State issued a travel advisory on Saturday urging citizens to depart Lebanon through commercial options while still available.  Flights were still available but at reduced capacity, the statement said, and the US Embassy may not be able to assist citizens who choose to remain. The statement also urged US citizens not to travel to Lebanon due to the unpredictable nature of the ongoing conflict between Hezbollah and Israel.

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