According to Western media, the International Criminal Court’s decision will be made on sentencing requests on Israel and the war in the Gaza Strip today.
Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected recognition of the Palestinian state by Ireland, Spain and Norway. According to Netanyahu, such a step would only represent a “reward for terrorism” for Palestinian radicals. Israel, he underlined, “would not allow the creation of such a state alongside itself.”
US President Joe Biden opposes unilateral recognition of Palestine by other countries, a White House National Security Council (NSC) spokesperson said. “The president strongly supports the two-state solution, and has done so throughout his career,” the employee told CNN. “He believes that a Palestinian state should be created through direct negotiations between the parties, and not through unilateral recognition,” the NSC representative noted.
Regarding the Palestinian state, Colombia has announced that it will open an embassy in Ramallah, Palestine.
The German Foreign Ministry: “An independent Palestinian state is an important goal of German foreign policy, but a two-state solution is impossible without real dialogue.”
A representative of the German government made it clear that if an international arrest warrant is issued against Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, Germany will be obliged to arrest him. “According to the law, Germany supports the Court and will remain so,” spokesman Stefan Hebstreit said. He refused to answer a reporter’s question about whether Germany would accept Israel’s request for countries to refrain from executing the arrest warrant.
According to an article in Der Spiegel, Germany will not be able to ignore the warrant if it is issued due to its commitment to the court, but on the other hand they see the scenario of the arrest of the Israeli Prime Minister as a “particularly sensitive issue” in the context of Holocaust memory.
Settlers continue to demonstrate in Tel Aviv to demand an agreement on the exchange of prisoners with the Palestinian resistance. Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper wrote that “the immediate aid program that aims to provide an emergency response to tens of thousands of displaced people in the north will be postponed again after the Prime Minister’s Office failed to reach an agreed and professional decision that meets the needs of displaced populations, communities and residents.”
Local accounts in Gaza complain that the Pentagon-built floating dock in Gaza has begun to be used to ship military equipment to Israel.
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan has warned that the world will face new conflicts if Israel’s aggression in the Gaza Strip is not stopped. He stated this while speaking in Ankara. “As long as Western powers support Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the massacre in Palestine cannot be stopped. I openly say that our world will face new conflicts if Zionist expansionism in Gaza continues,” Erdogan said.
The IDF has acknowledged the deaths of three soldiers in the northern Gaza Strip. This is a captain and two sergeants. The Al-Qassam Brigades reveal: “We captured General Assaf Hamami, commander of the Southern Brigade in the Gaza Division, on October 7.” The general would be wounded.
Alongside the state funeral for the death of President Raisi and Foreign Minister Abdollahian, there was a meeting between the leaders of the resistance axis in the capital, Tehran, which included the commander of the Revolutionary Guard, Major General Hossein Salami, and the commander of the Quds Force, General Ismail Qani. The meeting was attended by: the Deputy Secretary General of Hezbollah. The Spokesman of Ansarallah and the Political Leader of Hamas. In a post from the Hamas network: “The latest situation in Gaza and the Al-Aqsa flood operation was examined and the continuation of the struggle until the complete victory of the Palestinian resistance in Gaza with the participation of all was underlined the resistance groups and fronts in the region”. Another source reports that among those present were: “Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, Hezbullah, Ansarullah and the Iraqi resistance forces”.
The United States has admitted that the Houthis from Yemen may use weapons that would reach the Mediterranean Sea. A senior US defense official told Bloomberg: “The US government is concerned that the Houthis have the ability to expand the scope of attacks on maritime expeditions beyond the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden to the Mediterranean Sea”. “The Houthis have advanced weapons and their deployment of anti-ship ballistic missiles is unprecedented in the world.”
The CEO of the Israeli shipping company “Zim”, in response to the question on how long the ships will continue to circulate around South Africa said: “Don’t ask us, but ask the Houthis”
On May 23, the British Maritime Authority: a merchant ship reports a projectile in the water. It is located approximately 33 nautical miles south of Mokha in Yemen. At 4pm the leader of the Ansar Allah movement, Abdul Malik Badr al-Din al-Houthi gave a speech in which he invited citizens to take to the streets and demonstrate in favor of the citizens of Gaza.
And then he added: “We have carried out 8 operations with 15 missiles and drones in Red and Arab Bahrain, in the Gulf of Aden and in the Indian Ocean. One of our military operations this week was carried out towards the Mediterranean Sea. The number of ships targeted so far amounts to 119 vessels linked to the Israeli, American and British enemies. During this week, two American 9MQ planes were shot down in the airspace of the governorates of Marib and Al Bayda. The MQ9 aircraft is one of America’s most important armed reconnaissance aircraft, and shooting it down is considered a major air defense achievement.”
And now a look at the war of attrition between Israel and Hamas updated at 4:00 pm on May 23.
Sirens in action in northern Israel an explosive UAV passed from Lebanon to northern Israel and fell in the Beit Hillel area. No injuries or damage were reported. IDF fighter jets hit two Hezbollah launchers and terrorist infrastructure in the areas of Marwahin, Ayta ash Shab and Rab El Thalathine in southern Lebanon.
Sirens heard in Metulla. The Al-Quds brigades together with the forces of the martyr Omar Al-Qasim claimed responsibility for the attack against the city Ashkelon and the “Zikim” military base with a missile barrage. The Islamic resistance in Lebanon claims attack on the Al-Samaqa site in the Lebanese hills of Kfar Shuba and the Al-Baghdadi site with missile weapons. The colony of Kfar Giladi was also hit. The Islamic resistance also claimed responsibility for an attack against a group of Israeli soldiers on Al-Tayhat hill with missile weapons. Drones used against 403rd Battalion artillery positions south of Beit Hilal.
According to Israeli media: “Several fires broke out due to missiles launched from Lebanon towards the Upper Galilee.” Resistance claims attack in Haifa. The Islamic Resistance in Lebanon claimed to have bombed the 91st Division headquarters at the Illit base with dozens of Katyusha rockets.
Southern Israel also affected. The Iraqi Resistance carries out new drone attacks on the occupied port of Eilat. Sirens were heard on the night of May 22 in Eilat and Kibbutz Eilot. Due to possible drone infiltration. In response, Israel carried out a raid at the entrance to the city of Mansouri in southern Lebanon.
In northern Gaza the IDF says operations have continued and continue throughout the Gaza Strip, IDF troops conducted a targeted raid in the Beit Hanoun area
In recent days, IDF troops have begun to conduct a targeted raid in the Beit Hanoun area of northeast Gaza to eliminate Hamas men and locate and target infrastructure used by the group, below and above the ground.
The Al-Quds Brigades claimed responsibility for bombing an Israeli vehicle maintenance post east of the Central Governorate with a volley of Type 107 missiles. Israeli planes opened fire on Al-Rashid Street, opposite the Al-Nuseirat camps and Al-Zahraa in the center of the Gaza Strip.
The Al-Qassam Brigades claim attack against an Israeli troop transport ship with a “Tandum” projectile near the Salah al-Din Gate, south-east of the city of Rafah, south of the Gaza Strip.
The Qassam also claimed responsibility for an ambush against Israeli soldiers, in the statement they speak of 10 soldiers. When help arrived, the Qassamas allegedly blew up a “shawaz”, killing and wounding members of the two forces near the agricultural school north of Beit, north of the Gaza Strip. There is no response from the IDF. Always the militias but the al Quds claim to have intercepted an Israeli drone and have it under their control.
The Al-Nasser Salah al-Din Brigades claim the use of IEDs near the Jabalya camp police station, this operation was followed by clashes between militias and Israeli soldiers.
The IDF in a statement said that IDF troops continue operational activities in the areas of Rafah, Jabaliya and central Gaza. Israeli attacks recorded at several sites in Rafah, south of the Gaza Strip. In response, the al-Qassam targeted Israeli vehicles in the Taqaddam axis in the Brazil neighborhood and at the Salah al-Din Gate, south of the city of Rafah, south of the Gaza Strip. On May 23, the scene at the front did not change. Clashes between militias and Israeli soldiers continue in Rafah: the Al-Quds brigades claim to have bombarded the military concentrations and vehicles penetrating to the south with a barrage of 60 caliber mortar shells. -east of Rafah.
In the West Bank, the Israeli army withdraws from the Jenin camp after a two-day military assault.
Antonio Albanese e Graziella Giangiulio
