Updates: Netanyahu, Gallant ‘wanted men’ as Israel bombards Gaza, Lebanon

To find out about some of the latest deadly Israeli attacks on Lebanon as ceasefire talks, once again, led to no breakthroughs, read this.

To find out more about how the world reacted to the ICC issuing arrest warrants for Israeli and Hamas leaders, check out our story here.

And you can always see our latest coverage of the war on Gaza here.

We will be closing this live page soon. Here’s a brief overview of the day’s main events.

• The International Criminal Court has issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, as well as Hamas military commander Mohammed Deif.
• Many countries welcomed the ICC move, saying they will abide by the court’s decision, while Israel and its main ally, the US, have slated the development.
• Israeli forces have continued to pound Gaza, killing at least 88 Palestinians in attacks on northern and central Gaza.
• Israeli forces also stepped up attacks on Lebanon, with intense bombardment reported in Tyre and Lebanon’s eastern district of Baalbek, where more than 47 people were killed.
• In the occupied West Bank, Israeli forces killed two Palestinians in the village of Kafr Dan and another in the Ein Beit el-Ma refugee camp near the city of Nablus.
• The US Senate has voted overwhelmingly to reject several bills that would have blocked the shipments of tank rounds, mortar rounds and smart-bomb kits to Israel.

Al Jazeera journalist Hossam Shabat says he was deliberately targeted and wounded by an Israeli air strike while reporting in the Gaza Strip.

“We throw fear and anxiety behind our backs and did not hesitate to document these crimes,” he said, adding that targeted attacks are part of Israel’s plans to hit Gaza journalists to keep the truth from getting out.

Al Jazeera journalist Hossam Shabat says he was deliberately targeted by Israeli forces while reporting and was left injured by an Israeli airstrike.

Israel has already killed 177 journalists in Gaza while they were covering its genocide on Palestinians. pic.twitter.com/J0mrc3sT8o

— AJ+ (@ajplus) November 21, 2024

The Israeli military has confirmed that another one of its soldiers was killed while fighting in the northern part of the Gaza Strip.

The army named the soldier as Staff Sergeant Ron Epshtein, of the Givati Brigade.

He was killed by shrapnel from an artillery shell in Jabalia in an incident that also saw two other soldiers lightly wounded, according to The Times of Israel, which cited an unnamed military source.

Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala has rejected the ICC decision to issue arrest warrants for Israel’s Netanyahu and Gallant.

“The ICC’s unfortunate ruling undermines authority in other cases by equating the elected representatives of a democratic state with the leaders of an Islamist terrorist organisation,” he wrote in a post on X.

We reported earlier that the Israeli military intensified attacks on Nabatieh in southern Lebanon late into the evening.

The country’s Ministry of Health now reports that at least seven people were killed and 24 others were wounded today as a result of Israeli attacks in Nabatieh.

The highest number of fatalities was recorded in the village of Arabsalim, which has been repeatedly hit in recent days. At least four people were killed there and nine were wounded, according to the ministry.

The Israeli military reports that its air defences detected a “suspicious aerial target” in the southern Negev desert region.

It said the incident was over and there were no casualties, but did not elaborate.

This comes after the Islamic Resistance in Iraq umbrella group of Iran-aligned armed forces reported launching a drone towards southern Israel.

🚨 ✈️ Hostile Aircraft Intrusion [23:01:00] – 1 Alert:

• Southern Negev — Har HaNegev

Population: <500 pic.twitter.com/nfXCwFUR90

— ILRedAlert (@ILRedAlert) November 21, 2024

The spokesperson for Netanyahu who had a court session earlier today for being involved in a secret document leak case will remain in police custody at least until Wednesday after having an indictment issued against him.

Eli Feldstein was indicted on charges of harming state security amid the scandal surrounding the leak of classified documents to benefit the prime minister. He has been in custody since late October.

Details from the indictment show that Netanyahu may have been made aware of Feldstein’s leak of documents, which benefitted his public image amid public anger about his handling of efforts to return Israeli captives still held in Gaza, according to The Times of Israel.

Israeli warplanes and artillery weapons launched a string of night-time raids on Nabatieh in southern Lebanon, according to the country’s National News Agency (NNA).

The village of Ainata saw at least 10 artillery shells falling from Israeli positions while the city of Bint Jbeil was hit with at least six shells. The towns of Hanine and Kunin were targeted as well.

NNA reported that Israeli jets dropped bombs on the town of Yahmar al-Shaqif and the village of Arnoun as well. There are no reports on potential casualties yet.

The Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has welcomed the ICC decision to issue arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant some six months after its chief prosecutor requested them.

“It affirmed that the ICC’s decision restores hope and trust not only in international law along with UN institutions but also in the importance of justice, accountability and prosecution of war criminals, particularly at a time when the Palestinian people is still subject [to] genocide,” it said in a statement.

The ministry also called on the member states of the ICC and the UN to halt communications and meetings with the two Israeli leaders.

Palestine welcomes #ICC’s decision to issue arrest warrants for Netanyahu, Gallant

RAMALLAH, November 21, 2024 – The State of Palestine Thursday welcomed the ICC decision to arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and former ‘Defense’ Minister Yoav Gallant, six… pic.twitter.com/fRh2hzY8Wy

— State of Palestine – MFA 🇵🇸🇵🇸 (@pmofa) November 21, 2024

The Israeli military says in a short statement that a missile launched from Yemen was successfully intercepted by air defences.

According to the army, the projectile was shot down outside Israeli borders. The announcement came after sirens sounded in the Dead Sea area.

The armed forces of the Houthis in Yemen, who have been launching attacks on Israeli interests in a stated effort to stop the onslaught on Palestinians and Lebanese, have not made an announcement.

🚨 Rocket Alert [21:01:20] – 11 Alerts:

• Judea — Nokdim, Ma'ale Rekhav'am, Ma'aleh Amos, Metzad, Tko'a, Sdeh Bar, Pnei Kedem, Kfar Eldad
• Dead Sea — Ein Gedi, Mitzpeh Shalem, Metzokei Dragot

Population: 20,000 pic.twitter.com/IT87pzSb8e

— ILRedAlert (@ILRedAlert) November 21, 2024

The latest statement by OCHA that we reported on earlier also says many Palestinian students are dropping out of schools in the Israeli-controlled H2 area of Hebron city in the occupied West Bank “due to intensified access restrictions”.

The UN says there are more than 13,000 students in H2 who have not attended school in person between October 2023 and May 2024.

Due to Israeli movement restrictions, some students and teachers are forced to take detours through areas used by Israeli settlers, who have engaged in intensifying daily attacks against Palestinians since the start of the war.

Some of the classes have been shifted online, but many families have had limited or no access to the internet or remote electronic devices.

Since October last year, at least 330 Palestinians, including 40 children, across H2 have been detained at checkpoints during search-and-arrest operations, or by ad hoc detentions by Israeli forces, according to the UN.

📍#WestBank

❗️Israeli forces killed 4 Palestinians, including 1 child, between 12 and 18 November.
❗Students are dropping out of schools due to increasing access restrictions.
❗Settler violence has displaced 1,722 Palestinians, including 835 children, since 7 Oct. 2023.

⬇️

— UN Humanitarian (@UNOCHA) November 21, 2024

The UN has released these images from Deir el-Balah in the central Gaza Strip and Khan Younis in the southern part as severe food insecurity continues to spread across the enclave.

Some of the few bakeries that have remained operational with limited help coming from international organisations are also running out of flour within days, it said.

Israeli authorities continue to starve the 2.3 million people in Gaza as they kill dozens with ground and air attacks on a daily basis.

📷: People wait for bread in Deir al Balah & Khan Younis, Gaza.

Only 7 out of 19 humanitarian-supported bakeries in Gaza are operational. Many are on the verge of running out of flour within days.

Safe, sustained humanitarian access into & across Gaza is urgently needed. pic.twitter.com/T0gO8OKGc3

— United Nations (@UN) November 21, 2024

Arrest warrants are issued by the International Criminal Court for Netanyahu and Gallant on charges of committing war crimes in Gaza.

Senior Hamas figure Mohammed Deif is also being sought.

Just a day earlier, the US vetoed a ceasefire resolution at the UN Security Council. What are the implications of these developments?

Find out on the latest Inside Story episode below:

Israeli forces have, on average, killed three Palestinian children in the occupied West Bank every week since October 7, 2023, according to the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

The organisation said this marks a four-fold increase compared to the first nine months of 2023, during which 40 children were killed.

“Over 60 percent of these fatalities occurred in Jenin, Tulkarem, Tubas and Nablus governorates, areas that have witnessed intensified Israeli operations over the past year,” OCHA said.

“Among them, 35 children were killed in air strikes, during which Israeli forces employed lethal, war-like tactics, raising serious concerns about the excessive use of force. Additionally, 1,132 children have been injured, with nearly half [48 percent] sustaining injuries from live ammunition.”

The UN also noted multiple instances this month of Israeli forces killing or wounding Palestinians in the occupied territories, or supporting violent attacks by illegal settlers.

Israeli forces in the #WestBank continue to use lethal war-like tactics, including airstrikes.

Meanwhile, more Palestinians have been displaced by settler violence and demolitions.

Read our latest update: https://t.co/UFCDlG5HLC pic.twitter.com/7ROhAXfqgA

— OCHA OPT (Palestine) (@ochaopt) November 21, 2024

Police in the UK have arrested 10 people with the Palestine Action network of activists who protested against Israeli attacks.

The organisation released a video showing its members demonstrating in Manchester, over 48 hours after the activists were arrested under the Terrorism Act.

The CAGE International rights group said British police conducted “widespread raids” that led to the arrests, with those taken in including a 72-year-old and six Muslims.

Manchester protest the ongoing detention of activists under the Terrorism Act.

Its been over 48 hours and they're still detained without charge in solitary confinement, accused of destroying Israel's biggest weapons firm.

But they are not alone. We are all Palestine Action! pic.twitter.com/lKRTk7AC4O

— Palestine Action (@Pal_action) November 21, 2024

Students from the Technical University of Munich in Germany organised a protest against their university’s dealings with Israeli institutions and universities by throwing flyers from above the campus centre.

The video below, confirmed by Al Jazeera’s Sanad verification agency, shows a large number of flyers scattering and falling among the students in a protest move to express their rejection of what they described as “collusion” in violating international law by cooperating with the Israeli occupation.

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A post shared by University for Palestine (@uniforpalestine_muc)