Will the ICC seek prosecutions in Sudan following Darfur hospital attack?

Special Will the ICC seek prosecutions in Sudan following Darfur hospital attack?
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Sudanese refugees who have fled from the war in Sudan get off a truck loaded with families arriving at a Transit Centre for refugees in Renk, on February 13, 2024. More than 550,000 people have now fled from the war in Sudan to South Sudan since the conflict exploded in April 2023, according to the United Nations. (AFP/File)
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Updated 20 June 2024
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Will the ICC seek prosecutions in Sudan following Darfur hospital attack?

Will the ICC seek prosecutions in Sudan following Darfur hospital attack?
  • International Criminal Court’s chief prosecutor is ‘concerned by the ethnically motivated nature’ of the conflict
  • Fourteen months into the conflict, legal experts have criticized the court’s belated appeal for evidence of atrocities

LONDON: The International Criminal Court’s chief prosecutor Karim Khan has appealed for evidence of atrocities in Sudan, saying his ongoing investigation “seems to disclose an organized, systematic and a profound attack on human dignity.”

However, legal experts who spoke to Arab News have accused the ICC of dragging its feet on the deteriorating situation in Sudan and of focusing too narrowly on the Darfur region while neglecting the wider conflict.

Khan last week said he had become “particularly concerned by the ethnically motivated nature” of the conflict in Sudan after combatants reportedly attacked the main hospital in Al-Fasher, North Darfur, in what likely constituted a war crime.




El-Fasher South Hospital in Al-Fasher, North Darfur, after it was attacked. (X: Twitter)

Doctors from the medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres confirmed to Arab News that the attack on the South Hospital on June 8 had forced MSF and its partners in the Sudanese Ministry of Health to suspend all activities and withdraw staff from the facility.

A spokesperson said authorities had already reduced services at the hospital, with many patients having been transferred before the attack owing to the uptick in fighting around the city — the last in Darfur still under the control of the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF).

Fighters affiliated with the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a breakaway military faction that has seized control of swathes of the country since the conflict began on April 15, 2023, were accused of mounting the attack.




Members of Sudan's paramilitary group known as RSS were accused of burning villages in some parts of the country. (AFP/File)

“It’s outrageous that the RSF opened fire inside the hospital,” Michel Lacharite, head of emergencies at MSF, told Arab News. “It is not an isolated incident. Staff and patients have endured attacks on the facility for weeks from all sides, but opening fire inside a hospital crosses a line.

“Warring parties must stop attacking hospitals. One by one, hospitals are damaged and closed. Remaining facilities in Al-Fasher aren’t prepared for mass casualties, we are trying to find solutions, but the responsibility lies with warring parties to spare medical facilities.”

INNUMBERS

• 14,000 Estimated number of people killed in Sudan since the conflict began on April 15, 2023.

• 10 million People displaced, including over 2 million who have crossed into neighboring countries.

The RSF, commanded by Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, also known as Hemedti, has previously denied claims that its forces attack civilian infrastructure.

While details about the hospital attack remain sketchy, the MSF spokesperson said “most patients” and “all MSF staff” were able to escape.




Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo (C), known as Hemeti, commander of the Rapid Support Forces paramilitary, has denied accusations that his group were committing war crimes. (AFP/File)

As the main referral hospital for treating Al-Fasher’s war-wounded, the only one equipped to manage mass casualty events and one of just two with surgical capacity, the loss of services will have a major impact. In less than a month, the facility had treated some 1,300 people.

The UN Security Council adopted a UK-drafted resolution on June 14 demanding an end to the siege of Al-Fasher.

The measure expressed “grave concern” over the spreading violence and reports that the RSF was carrying out “ethnically motivated violence.”

During the meeting, Mohamed Abushahab, the UAE’s ambassador to the UN, said: “We believe that the Sudanese people deserve justice and peace. They need a ceasefire, a credible political process and unhindered flow of humanitarian aid.”

Rebutting accusations made by the representative of Sudan’s SAF-backed government, he said: “Excuses and finger pointing only prolongs the suffering of civilians.”

Independent ivestigations using videos suggest recent SAF victories were enabled by the deployment of such Iranian-made combat drones as Mohajer-6 and Zajil-3.




A handout picture provided by the Iranian presidency on April 18, 2022 shows an Iranian combat drone on display during a military parade in Tehran. Independent investigations using videos suggest recent SAF victories were enabled by the deployment of such Iranian-made combat drones. (AFP/File)

According to Wim Zwijnenburg, a drone expert and head of the Humanitarian Disarmament Project at Dutch peace organisation PAX, the videos are “an indication of active Iranian support” for SAF.

“If these drones are equipped with guided munitions, it means they were supplied by Iran because those munitions are not produced in Sudan,” Zwijnenburg told BBC.

Sudan’s SAF-dominated governing council has denied acquiring weapons from Iran.

Cameron Hudson, a senior fellow for the Africa Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said that although the Al-Fasher hospital assault has been a wake-up call for the ICC, attacks of this kind were “nothing new.”

“The fact of the matter is that this is not the first hospital to be looted or destroyed in this conflict,” Hudson told Arab News.




Fire rages in a livestock market area in al-Fasher, the capital of Sudan's North Darfur state, on September 1, 2023, in the aftermath of bombardment by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF). (AFP/File)

“It is a conflict that has been raging for 14 months and has been fought in much the same way with this attack well within the nature of the conflict.

“What is new is that Sudan’s civilian population’s ability to withstand the shocks of this war has depleted. But while it may feel like a game-changing moment, it is not.”

Referring to the July 1995 massacre of more than 8,000 Bosniak Muslim men and boys during the Bosnian War, Hudson said: “Maybe if there was a Srebrenica moment, a move to extermination, that would be game-changing.”

Khan’s comments indicate the ICC has been paying attention to the situation in Sudan. However, Hudson voiced disappointment at the court’s slow response to the conflict.

Contrasting the “alacrity” with which the ICC acted against Russia for its war in Ukraine and Israel for its assault on Gaza, he said it was telling of Sudan’s ranking in international priorities that the court was “only now” investigating.




International Criminal Court's chief prosecutor Karim Khan (L) visits the Kalma camp for internally displaced people in Nyala, the capital of South Darfur, on August 21, 2022. (AFP/File)

“Khan’s comments strike me as an admission that the court has not moved at pace and should have been doing more,” said Hudson. “I am not sure what restraints he is operating under but he’s not prioritized Sudan, and, in Darfur, these cases build themselves.

“It is not just the court, this conflict has been neglected more broadly, there need to be moves to build a diplomatic process and to get humanitarian aid because only eight percent of a global appeal has been met, which is shockingly low.

“I would like to see an increase in the cost on this war’s actors as part of a move to bring it to an end, including the use of sanctions, which have not been deployed efficiently, and could have a part to play in bringing actors to the negotiating table.”

Although efforts at brokering a ceasefire between the two sides have so far failed, Saudi aid agency KSrelief has been rolling out health projects intended to support Sudan’s civilian population, with three projects put into action in the last week alone.




Sudanese villagers receive humanitarian aid from Saudi Arabia at a KSrelief center in Khartoum, Sudan. (SPA/File)

With thousands of civilians reportedly killed and thousands more displaced by the fighting across Darfur, the ICC’s machinery has swung into action. Even so, Sudanese international lawyers have expressed skepticism.

One who spoke to Arab News on the condition of anonymity said they were particularly concerned by Khan’s focus on the violence in Darfur when in reality, the violence has spread far beyond the troubled western region.

“The ICC was mandated to investigate crimes in Darfur in 2005, and we have not yet seen any results from that mandate, and now this conflict is happening in other areas,” the lawyer said. “This violence is not all in — nor is it originating from — Darfur.

“What is happening outside Darfur is not lesser than the violence happening within it and yet the ICC, partly as a consequence of Sudan not being a party to the court’s jurisdiction, is drawing attention away from this and making it all about Darfur.”

Despite lacking jurisdiction as a consequence of the Sudanese government failing to ratify the ICC treaty, otherwise known as the Rome Statute, the court had gained jurisdiction for a limited investigation into earlier crimes in Darfur through a UN Security Council referral.

That referral resulted in the ICC’s 2009 decision to issue an arrest warrant for the since-ousted Sudanese President Omar Bashir for multiple charges, including for a genocide that took place in Darfur between 2003 and 2008.




Sudan's former strongman Omar Bashir (left) was the subject of an arrest warrant issued by the ICC over genocide charges committed in Darfur between 2003 and 2008 allegedly by the RSF led by General Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo (right)

Born out of Arab militias commonly known as Janjaweed, the RSF was mobilized by Bashir against non-Arab tribes in Darfur. At the time, they were accused of mass killings, rapes and other atrocities, and Darfur became synonymous with genocide.

Welcoming Khan’s push for evidence, another Sudan-based legal expert, who spoke to Arab News anonymously, challenged those questioning the focus on Darfur, stressing it made sense given the region’s history.

“Does it make sense to keep looking at cases within the Darfur geographic region? Yes, because all that is happening in Sudan from 2003 up to now can be connected back to Darfur, as that is where this conflict’s root causes lie,” they said.

“There are questions to be asked though in relation to how the ICC is addressing the Darfur case and the role that this, and the coverage of it, will have around the protection of civilians as what is needed is to reduce that risk.”




Internally displaced women wait to collect aid from a group at a camp in Gadaref on May 12, 2024. (AFP/File)

The war in Sudan has cost the lives of more than 14,000 people and left thousands more wounded while pushing the population to the brink of famine.

The UN warned the warring parties last month that there is a serious risk of widespread starvation in Darfur and elsewhere in Sudan if they do not allow humanitarian aid into the region.

The war has also created the world’s largest displacement crisis as more than 10 million people have been forced to flee their homes, including over 2 million people who have crossed into neighboring countries.

Saudi Arabia has played a central role in facilitating talks between the two warring factions, urging them to meet their obligations to protect civilians under both the Jeddah Declaration and the requirements of international humanitarian law.
 

 


Suspected US airstrikes in Yemen kill at least 4 people near Hodeida, Houthi militants say

Suspected US airstrikes in Yemen kill at least 4 people near Hodeida, Houthi militants say
Updated 4 sec ago
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Suspected US airstrikes in Yemen kill at least 4 people near Hodeida, Houthi militants say

Suspected US airstrikes in Yemen kill at least 4 people near Hodeida, Houthi militants say
  • The intense campaign of airstrikes in Yemen under US President Donald Trump has killed at least 65 people, according to casualty figures released by the Houthis
  • “Iran is incredibly weakened as a result of these attacks, and we have seen they have taken out Houthi leaders,” Leavitt said

DUBAI: Suspected US airstrikes battered militant-controlled areas of Yemen into Wednesday, with the Houthis saying that one strike killed at least four people near the Red Sea port city of Hodeida.
Meanwhile, satellite images taken Wednesday and analyzed by The Associated Press show at least six stealth B-2 Spirit bombers now stationed at Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean — a highly unusual deployment amid the Yemen campaign and tensions with Iran.
The intense campaign of airstrikes in Yemen under US President Donald Trump, targeting the militants over their attacks on shipping in Mideast waters stemming from the Israel-Hamas war, has killed at least 65 people, according to casualty figures released by the Houthis.
The campaign appears to show no signs of stopping as the Trump administration again linked their airstrikes on the Iranian-backed Houthis to an effort to pressure Iran over its rapidly advancing nuclear program. While so far giving no specifics about the campaign and its targets, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt put the overall number of strikes on Tuesday at more than 200.
“Iran is incredibly weakened as a result of these attacks, and we have seen they have taken out Houthi leaders,” Leavitt said. “They’ve taken out critical members who were launching strikes on naval ships and on commercial vessels and this operation will not stop until the freedom of navigation in this region is restored.”
The Houthis haven’t acknowledged the loss of any of its leadership so far — and the US hasn’t identified any official by name. However, messages released by the leak of a Signal conversation between Trump administration officials and their public comments suggest a leader in the militants’ missile forces had been targeted.
Fatal strike reportedly targets Hodeida
Overnight, a likely US airstrike targeted what the Houthis described as a “water project” in Hodeida governorate’s Mansuriyah District, killing four people and wounding others. Other strikes into Wednesday targeted Hajjah, Saada and Sanaa governorates, the militants said.
The militants say they’ve continued to launch attacks against US warships in the Red Sea, namely the aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman, which is carrying out the majority of the strikes on the Houthis. No warship has been struck yet, but the US Navy has described the Houthi fire as the most intense combat its sailors have faced since World War II.
The aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson, now in Asia, is on its way to the Middle East to back up the Truman. Early Wednesday, Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell said that “additional squadrons and other air assets” would be deployed to the region, without elaborating.
More B-2s seen at Diego Garcia
That likely includes the deployment of nuclear-capable B-2 bombers to Camp Thunder Bay on Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean. Satellite photos taken Wednesday by Planet Labs PBC analyzed by the AP showed at least six B-2s at the base.
The deployment represents nearly a third of all the B-2 bombers in Washington’s arsenal. It’s also highly unusual to see that many at one base abroad. Typically, so-called show of force missions involving the B-2 have seen two or three of the aircraft conduct operations in foreign territory.
The nuclear-capable B-2, which first saw action in 1999 in the Kosovo War, is rarely used by the US military in combat, because each aircraft is worth around $1 billion. It has dropped bombs in Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya as well. The bombers are based at Whiteman Air Base in Missouri and typically conduct long-range strikes from there.
The US has used the B-2 in Yemen last year to attack underground Houthi bases. The B-2 likely would need to be used if Washington ever tried to target Iran’s underground nuclear sites as well.
The Houthis on Tuesday said that they shot down another American MQ-9 drone over the country.
Intense US bombings began on March 15
An AP review has found the new American operation against the Houthis under Trump appears more extensive than those under former US President Joe Biden, as Washington moves from solely targeting launch sites to firing at ranking personnel and dropping bombs on cities.
The new campaign of airstrikes started after the militants threatened to begin targeting “Israeli” ships again over Israel blocking aid entering the Gaza Strip. The militants have loosely defined what constitutes an Israeli ship, meaning many vessels could be targeted.
The Houthis targeted more than 100 merchant vessels with missiles and drones, sinking two of them and killing four sailors from November 2023 until January of this year. They also launched attacks targeting American warships without success.
The attacks greatly raised the Houthis’ profile as they faced economic problems and launched a crackdown targeting dissent and aid workers at home amid Yemen’s decadelong stalemated war, which has torn apart the Arab world’s poorest nation.


Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu will visit Orban in Hungary, defying international arrest warrant

Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu will visit Orban in Hungary, defying international arrest warrant
Updated 8 min 51 sec ago
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Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu will visit Orban in Hungary, defying international arrest warrant

Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu will visit Orban in Hungary, defying international arrest warrant
  • The ICC, the world’s only permanent global tribunal for war crimes and genocide, issued the arrest warrant in November for Netanyahu
  • The ICC has criticized Hungary’s decision to defy its warrant for Netanyahu

BUDAPEST: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is scheduled to arrive in Hungary’s capital on Wednesday to meet with the country’s nationalist prime minister despite an international arrest warrant for the Israeli leader over the war in the Gaza Strip.
Netanyahu’s four-day visit to Budapest is a sign of both his close relationship with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and the latter’s growing hostility toward international institutions, like the International Criminal Court, of which his country is a member.
Orbán, a conservative populist and close Netanyahu ally, has vowed to disregard the ICC warrant against the Israeli leader, accusing the world’s top war crimes court based in The Hague, Netherlands, of “interfering in an ongoing conflict for political purposes.”
Members of Orbán’s government have suggested that Hungary, which became a signatory to the court in 2001, could withdraw. Currently, all countries in the 27-member European Union, including Hungary, are signatories, and all members of the court are required to detain suspects facing a warrant if they set foot on their soil.
The ICC, the world’s only permanent global tribunal for war crimes and genocide, issued the arrest warrant in November for Netanyahu as well as for his former defense minister and Hamas’ military chief, accusing them of crimes against humanity in connection with the war in Gaza after the Hamas attack against Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
Tens of thousands of Palestinians, including children, have been killed during the Israeli military’s response.
The warrants said there was reason to believe Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant used “starvation as a method of warfare” by restricting humanitarian aid, and intentionally targeted civilians in Israel’s campaign against Hamas in Gaza — charges that Israeli officials deny.
The ICC has criticized Hungary’s decision to defy its warrant for Netanyahu. The court’s spokesperson, Fadi El Abdallah, said that it’s not for parties to the ICC “to unilaterally determine the soundness of the Court’s legal decisions.”
Participating states have an obligation to enforce the court’s decisions, El Ebdallah told The Associated Press in an email, and may consult with the court if they disagree with its rulings.
“Any dispute concerning the judicial functions of the Court shall be settled by the decision of the Court,” El Abdallah said.
Orbán, who has been the EU’s most intransigent spoiler in the bloc’s decision-making, is seen as a pioneer of some of the same tactics that Netanyahu has been accused of employing in Israel: subjugation of the judiciary, antagonism toward the European Union and cracking down on civil society and human rights groups.
Longtime allies and fellow practitioners of “illiberal” governance — a term adopted by Orbán that denotes a rejection of the tenets of liberal democracy — the two leaders are also allied with US President Donald Trump, who signed an executive order in February imposing sanctions on the ICC over its investigations of Israel.
Orbán’s government has said that Trump’s return to the White House has enabled it to take measures it was unable to during the administration of former US President Joe Biden — such as passing legislation to ban LGBTQ+ Pride events in Hungary.
Erika Guevara-Rosas, the head of Global Research, Advocacy and Policy of human rights group Amnesty International, said in a statement that Hungary “must arrest (Netanyahu) if he travels to the country and hand him over to the Court.”
“Hungary’s invitation shows contempt for international law and confirms that alleged war criminals wanted by the ICC are welcome on the streets of a European Union member state,” Guevara-Rosas said.
Liz Evenson, international justice director at rights group Human Rights Watch, said that Hungary allowing Netanyahu’s visit was a breach of Hungary’s ICC obligations, and “would be Orban’s latest assault on the rule of law, adding to the country’s dismal record on rights.”
“All ICC member countries need to make clear they expect Hungary to abide by its obligations to the court, and that they will do the same,” Evenson said.
In March 2023, the ICC issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin for war crimes, accusing him of personal responsibility for the abductions of children from Ukraine. Putin visited Mongolia, which is also a member of the ICC, in September last year, but he wasn’t arrested. Last year, judges found that the country failed to uphold its legal obligations and referred the matter to the court’s oversight body.


Far-right Israeli minister’s visits to Al-Aqsa Mosque compound condemned

Far-right Israeli minister’s visits to Al-Aqsa Mosque compound condemned
Updated 02 April 2025
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Far-right Israeli minister’s visits to Al-Aqsa Mosque compound condemned

Far-right Israeli minister’s visits to Al-Aqsa Mosque compound condemned
  • The Jordanian foreign ministry described Ben Gvir’s visit to the site
  • Hamas also condemned the Israeli minister's visit

JERUSALEM: Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir visited the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem’s Old City on Wednesday, his spokesperson said.
The firebrand politician was visiting the disputed site, which is sacred to Jews and Muslims, in occupied east Jerusalem after returning to the Israeli government last month following the resumption of the war in Gaza.

Jordan condemned the visit by Gvir, calling it a “dangerous escalation.”
In a statement, the Jordanian foreign ministry described Ben Gvir’s visit to the site, which is sacred to both Jews and Muslims, as a “storming” and “an unacceptable provocation.”

Hamas also condemned the Israeli minister's visit, calling it a “provocative and dangerous escalation.”
In a statement, the Palestinian militant group called for Palestinians “and our youth in the West Bank to escalate their confrontation... in defense of our land and our sanctities, foremost among them the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque.” The disputed site is sacred to both Jews and Muslims.


Hunger returns to Gaza as Israeli blockade forces bakeries shut

Hunger returns to Gaza as Israeli blockade forces bakeries shut
Updated 02 April 2025
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Hunger returns to Gaza as Israeli blockade forces bakeries shut

Hunger returns to Gaza as Israeli blockade forces bakeries shut
  • UN agency: All 25 WFP-supported bakeries in Gaza have shut down due to lack of fuel and flour
  • International charities working in Gaza warn that its 2.4 million people cannot endure more shortages

GAZA CITY, Palestinian Territories: At an industrial bakery in war-ravaged Gaza City, a conveyor belt that once churned out thousands of pitta breads every day has come to a standstill.

The Families Bakery is one of about two dozen supported by the World Food Programme (WFP) that have halted production in recent days due to flour and fuel shortages resulting from an Israeli blockade.

“All 25 WFP-supported bakeries in Gaza have shut down due to lack of fuel and flour,” the UN agency said in a statement on Tuesday, adding that it would “distribute its last food parcels in the next two days.”

Abed Al-Ajrami, chairman of the Bakery Owners Association in Gaza and owner of the Families Bakery, said that the WFP was the only sponsor of Gaza bakeries and provided them with “all their needs.”

“The repercussions from the closure of the bakeries will be very hard on citizens because they have no alternative to resort to,” he said.

Speaking in front of a large industrial oven that had not been fired up, he said that bakeries were central to the UN agency’s food distribution program, which delivered the bread to refugee camps across Gaza.

Despite a six-week truce that allowed displaced Gazans to return to what remained of their homes, negotiations for a lasting end to the fighting have stalled.

On March 2, Israel imposed a full blockade on the Palestinian territory, and cut off power to Gaza’s main water desalination plant.

On March 18, Israel resumed its strikes on Gaza. Days later, Hamas again began firing rockets at Israel.

The Palestinian militant group has accused Israel of using starvation as “a direct weapon in this brutal war,” pointing to the bakeries’ closure as an example.

It called on Arab and Muslim countries to “act urgently to save Gaza from famine and destruction.”

Residents of Gaza City were wary of the future.

“I got up in the morning to buy bread for my children but I found all the bakeries closed,” Mahmud Khalil said.

Fellow resident Amina Al-Sayed echoed his comments.

“I’ve been going from bakery to bakery all morning, but none of them are operating, they’re all closed,” she said, adding that she feared the threat of famine would soon stalk Gaza once again.

“The price of flour has risen... and we can’t afford it. We’re afraid of reliving the famine that we experienced in the south” of the territory.

International charities working in Gaza warn that its 2.4 million people cannot endure more shortages after many of them were displaced multiple times during the devastating military campaign Israel launched in response to Hamas’s October 2023 attack.

Those who took advantage of the six-week truce to return to bombed out homes have been “arriving in utter destitution,” said Gavin Kelleher of the Norwegian Refugee Council.

“We’ve been set up to fail as a humanitarian response. We’re not allowed to bring in supplies, we’re not able to meet needs,” he lamented.

Alexandra Saieh, of British charity Save The Children, echoed Kelleher’s remarks.

“When Save The Children does distribute food in Gaza, we see massive crowds because every single person in Gaza is relying on aid,” she said.

“That lifeline has been cut.”


Israel expands military effort in Gaza, 15 killed since morning

Israel expands military effort in Gaza, 15 killed since morning
Updated 02 April 2025
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Israel expands military effort in Gaza, 15 killed since morning

Israel expands military effort in Gaza, 15 killed since morning
  • Israeli defense minister says large areas in Gaza would be seized and added to Israel's security zones
  • Israel resumed air strikes on Gaza and sent ground troops back this month after fragile truce collapsed

JERUSALEM: Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz announced a major expansion of the military operation in Gaza on Wednesday, saying large areas of the enclave would be seized and added to the security zones of Israel.
In a statement, Katz said there would be large-scale evacuation of population from areas where there is fighting, and urged Gazans to eliminate Hamas and return Israeli hostages as the only way to end the war.
He did not make clear how much land Israel intends to seize, however.

Gaza rescuers say 15 killed in Israeli strikes on two houses

Gaza’s civil defense agency said Israeli air strikes on two houses in the war-ravaged Palestinian territory on Wednesday killed at least 15 people, including children.
“Thirteen martyrs, including children, were killed at dawn when occupation forces (the Israeli army) bombed a house sheltering displaced people in central Khan Yunis, in southern Gaza,” civil defense spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP, adding two other people were kiled in an Israeli strike on a house in the Nuseirat camp, in central Gaza.
Israel has already set up a significant buffer zone within Gaza, expanding an area that existed around the edges of the enclave before the war and adding a large security area in the so-called Netzarim corridor through the middle of Gaza.
At the same time, Israeli leaders have said they plan to facilitate voluntary departure of Palestinians from the enclave, after US President Donald Trump called for it to be permanently evacuated and redeveloped as a coastal resort under US control.
Israel resumed air strikes on Gaza and sent ground troops back in this month, after two months of relative calm following the conclusion of a US-backed truce to allow the exchange of hostages held by Hamas for Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails.
Efforts led by Qatari and Egyptian mediators to get back on tracks talks aimed at ending the war have failed to make progress yet.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said the application of military pressure is the best way to get the remaining 59 hostages back.