“International Criminal Court Prosecutor Karim A.A. Khan KC addresses journalists after visiting the Rafah Border Crossing between Egypt and the Gaza Strip on 29 October 2023. From Cairo, the Prosecutor gives a statement on the current situation in Israel and the State of Palestine”.
Video courtesy of Al Arabiya - english.alarabiya.net.
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[Ends]#ICC Prosecutor @KarimKhanQC addresses journalists after visiting the Rafah Border Crossing between Egypt and the Gaza Strip on 29 October 2023.
— Int'l Criminal Court (@IntlCrimCourt) October 29, 2023
From Cairo, the Prosecutor gives a statement on the current situation in Israel and the State of Palestine👇https://t.co/666En6yBIT
International Criminal Court Prosecutor Karim Khan speaks during an interview with Reuters about the violence in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories in The Hague, Netherlands October 12, 2023. (File photo: Reuters)
International Criminal Court prosecutor Karim Khan said Sunday preventing access to humanitarian could be a crime, after visiting Egypt’s Rafah crossing with Gaza, the main entry point for international aid.
“Impeding relief supplies as provided by the Geneva conventions may constitute a crime within the court jurisdiction,” Khan told reporters in Cairo.
He said he wanted “to underline clearly to Israel that there must be discernible efforts without further delay to make sure civilians” in the Hamas-run Palestinian territory “receive basic food, medicines”.
“I saw trucks full of goods full of humanitarian assistance stuck where nobody needs them, stuck in Egypt, stuck at Rafah,” Khan said.
“These supplies must get to the civilians of Gaza without delay.”
On Sunday the United Nations warned it feared a breakdown of public order after looting at food aid centres in Gaza run by its agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA.
UN chief Antonio Guterres said the situation was “growing more desperate by the hour” as casualties in the war increase and essential supplies of food, water, medicine and shelter dwindle.
People in the Palestinian territory have lived under Israeli blockade for 16 years and under complete siege for the past three weeks after the territory’s Hamas rulers launched deadly attacks into Israel that sparked a war.
Hamas militants stormed across the Gaza border on October 7 in the deadliest attack in Israel’s history, killing 1,400 people, mostly civilians, and kidnapping 239 others, according to Israeli officials.
The Palestinian health ministry in Gaza says the retaliatory Israeli bombardment has killed more than 8,000 people, mainly civilians and half of them children.
Khan said his office had an ongoing investigation into “any crimes committed on the territory of Palestine and any crimes committed, whether it’s by Israel and Palestine or whether it’s acts committed on the territory of Palestine or from Palestine into Israel.”
“This includes current events in Gaza and also current events in the West Bank,” Khan said, adding that he was “very concerned also by the spike of the number of reported incidents of attack by settlers against Palestinian civilians” in the territory Israel has occupied since 1967.
Khan also said hostage taking was a breach of the Geneva Conventions.
“I call for the immediate release of all hostages taken from Israel and for their safe return to their families,” Khan said.
The British lawyer said “Israel has clear obligations in relation to its war with Hamas, not just moral obligations but legal obligations” to comply with the laws of conflict.
“These principles equally apply to Hamas in relation to firing indiscriminate rockets into Israel,” he said.
View original: https://english.alarabiya.net/News/middle-east/2023/10/29/ICC-prosecutor-at-Rafah-border-crossing-says-hopes-to-visit-Gaza-Israel
THE International Criminal Court (ICC) Prosecutor Karim Khan KC was at the Rafah crossing point between Egypt and the Gaza Strip this weekend. Watch his remarks on the current situation in Israel and the State of Palestine in this clip filmed outside the compound of the Rafah crossing.
Le Procureur de la #CPI @KarimKhanQC était au point de passage de Rafah entre l'Égypte et la bande de Gaza ce week-end.
— CPI-Cour pĂ©nale int. (@CourPenaleInt) October 30, 2023
Regardez ses remarques sur la situation actuelle en IsraĂ«l et dans l’État de Palestine (en anglais). 👇 pic.twitter.com/WC8rcf71mD
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Officials also fear the war could spread, trapping more Brits in Egypt’s Sinai peninsular and Lebanon.
SAS troops are now in Cyprus on standby for hostage rescue missions in Gaza.
The elite soldiers are also braced to free UK citizens trapped by the bloodbath.
SAS troops are now in Cyprus on standby for hostage rescue missions in Gaza Credit: BBC
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200 Brits are stranded in Gaza after Israel and Egypt sealed the strip’s borders Credit: 2023 Anadolu
Some 200 Brits are stranded in Gaza after Israel and Egypt sealed the strip’s borders and five are held there by Hamas terrorists.
Britain’s military bases in Cyprus offer a strategic presence in the eastern Med.
And the SAS sabre squadron has been joined on the island by a 100-strong crisis command team.
Their primary focus is the Gaza Strip but officials fear the war could spread, trapping more Brits in Egypt’s Sinai peninsular and Lebanon.
The SAS in Cyprus have the Special Forces Support Group with them and a fleet of their modified helicopters.
A similar joint force scrambled to Cyprus ahead of the Khartoum Airlift that rescued some 2,000 from war-torn Sudan in spring.
A source told The Sun: “The UK has permanent bases in Cyprus.
"You would expect us to make use of them when there is a crisis in the region like this.”
Defence and Border Force staff have also been deployed to Egypt in the hope that Cairo relaxes its chokehold on Gaza’s Rafah border crossing.
The MoD refused to comment on details of Special Forces operations.
Meanwhile, the Israeli army’s most elite fighting force Sayeret Matkal is likely to spearhead any hostage rescue in Gaza.
The shadowy unit, who wear maroon berets, are modelled on the SAS and have the same “Who Dares Wins” motto.
Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu is a former team leader in the crack military group, as was his brother.
Yonatan Netanyahu was killed in the famous air hijack hostages rescue involving Sayeret Matkal commandoes at Entebbe, Uganda, in 1976.
View original: https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/24552018/sas-troops-standby-cyprus-rescue-gaza-hostages-brits/
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