May 21, 2024 Israel-Hamas war, Iran president death news

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has blasted the charges brought by the International Criminal Court against himself and his defense minister as "beyond outrageous" in an interview Tuesday with CNN's Jake Tapper.

The Israeli leader's comments come after the chief prosecutor of the ICC on Monday announced that he was seeking arrest warrants for Netanyahu, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and senior Hamas leaders over alleged war crimes.

ICC chief prosecutor Karim Khan on Monday said the charges against Netanyahu and Gallant include “causing extermination, causing starvation as a method of war, including the denial of humanitarian relief supplies, deliberately targeting civilians in conflict.”

Netanyahu described Khan as a " rogue prosecutor that has put false charges, that are both dangerous and false."

By applying for the arrest warrants against Israeli and Hamas leaders in the same action, Khan received a ferocious reaction from Israel and sharp criticism from the US, a close ally. Rights groups have hailed the decision, however.

A panel of ICC judges will now consider Khan’s application for the arrest warrants. Neither Israel nor the United States are members of the ICC.

Correction: This post has been edited to reflect that Khan's request was filed in the International Criminal Court

Egyptian intelligence quietly changed the terms of a ceasefire proposal that Israel had already signed off on earlier this month, ultimately scuttling a deal that could have released Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners, and set a pathway to temporarily end the fighting in Gaza, according to three people familiar with the discussions.

The ceasefire agreement that Hamas ended up announcing on May 6 was not what the Qataris or the Americans believed had been submitted to Hamas for a potential final review, the sources said.

The changes made by Egyptian intelligence, the details of which have not been previously reported, led to a wave of anger and recrimination among officials from the US, Qatar and Israel, and left ceasefire talks at an impasse.

CIA Director Bill Burns, who has spearheaded the American efforts to broker a ceasefire agreement, was in the region when word reached him that the Egyptians had changed the terms of the deal. He was angry and embarrassed, the same person said, believing it made him look like he wasn’t in the loop or hadn’t informed the Israelis of the changes.

The soft-spoken and mild-mannered Burns “almost blew a gasket,” said the source.

A CIA spokesperson declined to comment.

The three sources familiar with the matter told CNN that a senior Egyptian intelligence official named Ahmed Abdel Khalek was responsible for making the changes. Khalek is a senior deputy to the Egyptian intelligence chief Abbas Kamel, who has been Burns’ counterpart in leading Egypt’s mediation in the ceasefire talks.

One source familiar with the negotiations said Abdel Khalek told the Israelis one thing and Hamas another. More of Hamas’ demands were inserted into the original framework that Israel had tacitly agreed to in order to secure Hamas’ approval, the source said. 

But the other mediators were not informed; nor, critically, were the Israelis.

The Egyptian government did not respond to a request for comment.

The Israeli government’s decision to return broadcasting equipment to the Associated Press on Tuesday came after the White House expressed concerns to the Netanyahu-led government, a White House official told CNN.

The Associated Press applauded the Israeli Ministry of Communications' decision to return its equipment but said it remained concerned about the law at the center of the action.

CNN's Jake Tapper is interviewing Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at 4 p.m. ET.

Please check back for more details.

Israel has said it will return to the AP news agency camera equipment that it confiscated in Sderot earlier on Tuesday that showed live pictures of Israel's border with the Gaza Strip.

In a statement late Tuesday, Israel's Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi said that he has "now ordered to cancel the operation and return the equipment" to the AP news agency, because "Israel's Ministry of Defense wishes to examine the matter of the broadcasts from these locations in Sderot regarding the risk to our forces."

Earlier on Tuesday, Karhi had accused the AP of violating its new law by providing the camera feed to its thousands of news clients, including Al Jazeera.

As of Tuesday, more than 569 metric tons of humanitarian aid have been delivered through the US military’s temporary pier off the coast of Gaza, Pentagon spokesman Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder said. 

Ryder later clarified that the aid had so far been delivered to the shore for movement into Gaza. It still needs to be distributed by humanitarian partners. 

He also said that the US, Israel, and UN had discussed “alternative routes” to ensure the safe transportation of the aid coming off the pier.

Ryder’s comments come just days after Gazans intercepted aid trucks from the floating pier, with some men expressing skepticism to CNN over whether the aid was actually going to the Palestinian people. 

“[A]s we move forward on this, the safety and security of all the humanitarian assistance organizations is going to continue to be critical, and we'll continue to work closely with the international community on that front,” Ryder said.

“Ultimately, the goal of course is to get this humanitarian assistance to the Palestinian people who need it most.” 

University students are staging pro-Palestinian demonstrations on campuses across Italy. Brawls between students protesting their universities' relations with Israeli universities and counter-protesters have broken out in several cities, according to Italian media reports and social media video.

At the State University of Milan, a group the university named as the Lotta Communista or Communist Struggles group sparred with pro-Palestinian protesters who had set up an encampment in front of the main university hall on May 10. It is the second time this week the protesters came under attack, according to the Young Palestinians group.

The university rector Elio Franzini called for calm in a statement to students, in which he condemned "the acts of vandalism and verbal aggression and the occupation of internal spaces of the university which is undermining the ordinary programming of institutional activities to the detriment of the entire university community.”

In Rome, pro-Palestinian groups set up encampments at both La Sapienza and Roma Tre campuses this week, according to both universities' public affairs offices. So far no violence or counter attacks have been reported in Rome.

In Turin, encampments at three universities are now in their second week. All three university encampments have come under attack. At the University of Tornio, the Young Palestinian Italia group published a list of demands, saying they will stay until the university administrators hear them out.

“We have drawn up a document, together with the academic body, which consists in the termination of any agreement [of] the Israeli university with our university,” the group said.

University of Tornio has several research projects with Israeli universities, the students said. “The agreements of the University of Turin are an integral part of the Palestinian genocide. The academic boycott is the only one tool to avoid being complicit in the war crimes of the state of Israel.”

At the Polytechnic of Turin, pro-Palestinian protesters interrupted a career fair on Tuesday, which included many companies the protesters said had Israeli ties.

The Turin universities have all responded by moving most of the academic programs online.

In Trento, protesters have interrupted classes. University of Trento rector Flavio Deflorian condemned the protests. “It is not a way to promote a serious debate. The occupation, although it is an understandable manifestation of dissent, also involves costs borne by the university and is not acceptable,” he said in a statement.

Protests and encampments are being held at universities in Genova, Florence and Naples.

The White House on Tuesday urged Israel to reverse its decision to shut down and seize a live camera of Gaza belonging to the Associated Press, telling CNN that it had "concerns" over it.

"We’ve been engaging directly with the government of Israel to express our concerns over this action and to ask them to reverse it," a White House spokesperson told CNN.

In a statement Tuesday, Israeli Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi accused the AP of violating its new law by providing the camera feed to its thousands of news clients, including Al Jazeera.

The head of the World Health Organization on Tuesday called on Israel to ease all restrictions on aid entering the Gaza Strip.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the primary route for vital medical aid to enter Gaza from Egypt had been cut off during an ongoing Israeli army operation on the southern Gaza city of Rafah. 

Tedros said although WHO and its partners had managed to deliver small amounts of fuel to hospitals in recent days, the amount of fuel brought in fell far short of the 60,000 liters (15,850 US gallons) that medical staff need each day for health operations in Gaza.

"What is needed now more than ever is a ceasefire and to get aid flowing into Gaza," he added.

Some context: Israel has insisted there is “no limit” on the amount of aid that can enter Gaza, but its inspection regime on aid trucks has meant that only a tiny fraction of the amount of food and other supplies that used to enter Gaza daily before the war is getting into the enclave. Land crossings have also been closed or limited to supplies.