Gaza live: Gaza death toll rises to 35,80

Nearly 40 percent of Gaza’s population has been displaced in the last two weeks, as Israel looks to expand its offensive on Rafah.

More than 900,000 people or nearly 40 percent of Gaza’s population have been displaced between 6 and 18 May, including about 812,000 displaced from Rafah and more than 100,000 people displaced in northern Gaza, According to UN estimates.

"The claim that people in Gaza can move to ‘safe’ or ‘humanitarian’ zones is false. Each time, it puts the lives of civilians at serious risk,” Unrwa Commissioner General Philippe Lazzarini, said.

White House National Security advisor Jake Sullivan met with senior Palestinian Authority officials to discuss the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and PA reform on Monday.

The White House said Sullivan “commended” the efforts of the Palestinian Authority security forces to maintain stability in the occupied West Bank.

The US wants the PA to take over governing post-war Gaza as part of steps towards a two-state solution.

Sullivan met Palestinian Liberation Organization secretary general Hussein al-Sheikh and Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa.

They also discussed tapping funding from the international community for the PA.

Israeli defence officials have presented White House National Security advisor Jake Sullivan with an alternative plan for a full-scale assault on Rafah, the White House has said.

Sullivan met with Israeli lawmakers and officials on Monday, reiterating the US’s opposition to a full-scale Israeli assault on Rafah, while urging Israel to work with Egypt to reopen the Rafah border crossing.

Sullivan met Israeli leader of the opposition Yair Lapid, Minister of Defence Yoav Gallant, Chief of Defence Herzi Halevi, and War Cabinet members Benny Gantz and Gadi Eizenkot.

“Minister Gallant and General Halevi briefed Mr Sullivan on new alternative approaches to defeating Hamas in Rafah to address the concerns that have been expressed by the US side,” the White House said.

The visit was part of Sullivan’s wider travels in the region. He previously met with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The Biden administration hopes it can use a normalisation agreement with Saudi Arabia to end the Gaza war.

Ireland’s foreign minister has called on the international community to “respect the independence and impartiality of the ICC,” after the court came under fierce criticism from the US and Israel.

“Ireland condemns recent threats against the ICC and its officials - its role in ending impunity is essential,” Ireland’s foreign minister Micheal Martin, said on X.

Ireland has emerged as a vocal defender of Palestine amid Israel’s war on Gaza. Irish officials say the country plans to recognise the state of Palestine before the end of May.

The US has non-criminal jurisdiction in Gaza because of the military equipment it provides Israel, US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said on Monday.

In a heated exchange with reporters, Miller said “We have jurisdiction with the use of our equipment….with the use of our military equipment that we have provided," responding to questions about US opposition to an International Criminal Court prosecutor's call for arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defence Minister Yoav Gallant and senior Hamas leaders for alleged war crimes.

Pressed on the claim, Miller said that he meant the US had "jurisdiction" because of the Leahy Law, which regulates the transfer of US weapons to countries over human rights abuses. 

The US said it doesn’t believe the International Criminal Court (ICC) has jurisdiction over either Israel or Hamas, as it continues to push back against what the US says is a false equivalency between its ally, Israel, and Hamas, which the US designates a terror organisation.

State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said the US didn’t believe Hamas should be brought to justice by the ICC, but “by being killed”, or taken to “an Israeli court”.

“The ICC was established by state parties as a court of limited jurisdiction,” Miller said, adding that the ICC prosecutor had “rushed to seek these arrest warrants”.

The death toll from Israeli bombardment of northern Gaza’s Jabalia refugee camp and Beit Lahia has climbed to at least 18 people, according to Palestinian news agency Wafa.

At least 13 Palestinians were killed by Israeli strikes on Jabalia, where social media footage showed large plumes of smoke billowing. Another five Palestinians were killed by Israeli strikes on Beit Lahia.

The mounting death toll comes the same day an International Criminal Court prosecutor called for arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defence Minister Yoav Gallant and senior Hamas leaders for alleged war crimes.

The chief prosecutor of The International Criminal Court (ICC) seeking arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and senior Hamas leaders defended his move and slammed critics saying the case was politically motivated.

“The idea that by applying the law blindly, we are favoring one side…or being hostile to another side, nothing can be further from the truth,” chief prosecutor Karim Khan said on CNN.

Khan noted that his investigation also relied on an independent panel that included "giants of human rights", with diverse backgrounds including practising Jews and a holocaust survivor.

The panel includes Lord Justice Fulford, the first British judge elected to the ICC, and Theodor Meron, an American-Israeli lawyer and judge who served as legal advisor to the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Meron also served the US Department of State.

“This isn’t a witch hunt. This is not some kind of emotional reaction to noise.”

 South Africa on Monday welcomed an announcement by the International Criminal Court's prosecutor saying he had requested arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, his defence chief along with three senior Hamas leaders over alleged war crimes.

South Africa is leading a case at The International Court of Justice (ICJ) in the Hague accusing Israel of carrying out a genocide in Gaza.

Last week, Egypt said it will intervene to support South Africa's case, which also has the backing of Turkey and other states.

Three former US foreign policy officials in Donald Trump's administration met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other Israeli officials on Monday, Reuters reported, citing an unnamed source.

The officials included Robert O'Brien, Trump's former national security adviser, former US ambassador to the United Arab Emirates John Rakolta and former US ambassador to Switzerland Ed McMullen, according to Reuters.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu strongly rejected the ICC prosecutor seeking an arrest warrant against him and senior Hamas leaders.

“I reject with disgust the comparison of the prosecutor in the Hague between democratic Israel and the mass murderers of Hamas,” Netanyahu said on Monday.

“With what audacity do you compare Hamas that murdered, burned, butchered, decapitated, raped and kidnapped our brothers and sisters and the IDF soldiers fighting a just war.”

US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken slammed the International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor’s decision to seek arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, alongside senior Hamas officials.

“We reject the Prosecutor's equivalence of Israel with Hamas. It is shameful. Hamas is a brutal
terrorist organization that carried out the worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust and is still holding dozens of innocent people hostage, including Americans,” Blinken said.

Blinken also alleged that chief prosecutor Karim Khan blindsided Israel, unveiling his call for an arrest warrant the same day his staff was supposed to travel to Israel to arrange Khan’s visit.

"These and other circumstances call into question the legitimacy and credibility of this investigation,” Blinken said.

US President Joe Biden has called the International Criminal Court prosecutor's application for arrest warrants for Israeli leaders "outrageous", in his first statement on the development.

"Let me be clear: whatever this prosecutor might imply, there is no equivalence - none - between Israel and Hamas," Biden said in a statement on Monday. 

At least five Palestinians were killed by an Israeli strike on Monday on a house in Beit Lahia, in the northern Gaza Strip, according to Arabic media reports.

Video footage posted on social media from the scene showed plumes of smoke billowing from the city and first responders lowering bodies wrapped in a blanket from a second story building by rope.

The International Criminal Court leaned on an independent panel of experts that included Lebanese-British lawyer Amal Clooney to investigate whether there was evidence Israel and Hamas committed war crimes.

“The Panel… unanimously agrees that the evidence presented by the prosecutor provides reasonable grounds to believe that Netanyahu and Israel’s minister of defence Yoav Gallant have committed war crimes and crimes against humanity,” the experts wrote in the Financial Times.

The authors also said the Panel “unanimously agrees” that Hamas’s most senior leaders; Yahya Sinwar, Mohammed Deif and Ismail Haniyeh committed war crimes and crimes against humanity.

“The attacks by Hamas in Israel on October 7 and the military response by Israeli forces in Gaza have tested the system of international law to its limits,” they said, adding that the case was a “milestone” in the history of International law.

The panel included Lord Justice Fulford, Judge Theodor Meron, Amal Clooney, Danny Friedman and Baroness Helena Kennedy.