The Palestinian Authority requested on Sunday that the Internation Criminal Court issue an arrest warrant for Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir over his call for a large-scale counterterror operation in Judea and Samaria, The Jerusalem Post reported.
In an interview with local media following “Operation Shield and Arrow,” Ben-Gvir praised as “good and important” the targeted killing of six top Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorists during the five-day conflict, adding: “The next operation must be in Judea and Samaria.”
In its appeal to the ICC, Ramallah accused Ben-Gvir of “incitement” and of supporting “a bloody aggression” against Arabs in the Gaza Strip, according to the report.
The P.A. denounced Ben-Gvir’s remarks as “a license to kill Palestinian citizens” and a call for “an unjustified military escalation, which reflects an expansionist colonial mentality to perpetuate the gradual annexation” of Judea and Samaria.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised on Sunday “Operation Shield and Arrow” after an Egyptian-brokered ceasefire ended the fighting against Islamic Jihad the previous night.
“The execution was perfect. With a continuous initiative, we thwarted the entire top of the organization and damaged combat equipment that endangered Israel’s security,” the premier remarked at the start of the weekly Cabinet meeting in Jerusalem.
“We destroyed 17 jihadist headquarters, eliminated dozens of terrorists, hit rocket and missile depots, thwarted anti-tank squads and more. I would like to thank the members of the security establishment and the citizens of Israel, and especially the residents of the [‘Gaza Envelope’], for the firm stand that allowed us to succeed in the operation. We changed the equation,” Netanyahu said.
