According to Axios, US lawmakers from both parties are threatening the ICC with retaliatory action if it carries out its duties against Israeli officials. | Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has asked United States President Joe Biden to prevent the International Criminal Court (ICC) from issuing arrest warrants for senior Israeli officials responsible for war crimes in the Gaza Strip, Axios said citing two Israeli officials. ● Reportedly, the names of Netanyahu, Security Minister Yoav Gallant, and Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi have been circled as suspects of war crimes that the ICC will look to prosecute. [...] The ICC has been looking into war crimes committed back in 2014 in the Gaza Strip, however, it has produced no punitive decisions against individuals.

■ US Congress reportedly warns ICC over arrest warrants for Israeli officials (TRT World)
■ Israel fears ICC may order Netanyahu's arrest (rediff.com)
■ What is the International Criminal Court and why it has Israeli officials worried (AP News)
■ Russia says United States is being hypocritical over ICC and Israel (Investing.com)

Israel is setting up 'complex network' of checkpoints to prevent 'military age' men from fleeing Rafah assault, senior western official tells MEE | Israel is setting up a complex system of checkpoints that will prevent men of “military age” from fleeing Rafah in preparation for its offensive on the southern Gaza border city, a senior western official familiar with Israel’s plans has told Middle East Eye on condition of anonymity. ● The checkpoints are designed to allow some women and children to leave Rafah ahead of an expected Israeli offensive, but unarmed, civilian Palestinian men will likely be separated from their families and remain trapped in Rafah during an expected Israeli assault. ● The previously unreported disclosure of Israel’s construction of a ring of checkpoints around Rafah underscores how Israel is pushing ahead with plans to attack the city where over one million displaced Palestinians are sheltering in tents and makeshift camps. ● The creation of gender-based checkpoints around Rafah would put a spotlight back on Israel’s practice of stripping and forcibly detaining male Palestinian men and children, as it faces rising scrutiny in the West of its conduct in the war. The rounding up of Palestinian males in Gaza and photographing them stripped to their underwear drew condemnation in December, with the US calling the images “deeply disturbing”.

■ 'Israel' has no 'Intl' credit' to invade Rafah: Ex-Israeli General (Al Mayadeen)
■ Live blog: Israeli army 'ready' to invade Gaza's Rafah in 72 hours (TRT World)
■ Israeli airstrikes on Rafah kill at least 22 people, Palestinian officials say (Spectrum News)
■ 7 more Palestinians killed in fresh Israeli airstrikes across Gaza (aNews)
■ The Israel-US game plan for Gaza is staring us in the face (Jonathan Cook)

President Biden pretends to want to get more aid into the Strip. | President Biden ordered the military to construct the pier "for aid deliveries" [They're building a pier to carry out the genocide, let's face it.] instead of pressuring Israel to open more land border crossings, which is by far the most efficient way to get more aid into the Strip. Israel will impose a strict inspection regime on aid shipments coming through the pier, requiring inspections before they’re shipped from Cyprus and again when the aid reaches the shore of Gaza. ● According to a report from The Jerusalem Post, the idea to build the pier came from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who proposed it to Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides in October. A reporter for Israel’s Kan news said last month that during a meeting of the Knessett’s Foreign Affairs and Security Committee, Netanyahu suggested using the pier to remove Palestinians from Gaza. [It'll probably be Cyprus first, and then into the rest of Europe later.]

■ Temporary aid pier off Gaza to be operational in May: Pentagon (aNews)

Matt Kennard | After revealing nine Israeli Air Force planes landed in Britain in the four months after October 7, the Ministry of Defence changes policy and refuses to give any new information, possibly to protect UK ministers from prosecution. | The British government has imposed a block on all information about Israeli military planes landing in the UK. ● Amidst speculation that the International Criminal Court (ICC) is set to issue arrest warrants for Benjamin Netanyahu and his ministers, the new blackout could be intended to protect British ministers from possible prosecution for complicity in war crimes, including defence secretary Grant Shapps. [...] MacAskill told Declassified that the MoD had also now imposed a block on parliamentarians even asking questions about Israeli military operations involving UK territory.

Nicaragua has hauled Germany before the International Court of Justice to stop Berlin from providing Israel with weapons and other assistance. | The United Nations' top court will rule today on charges by Nicaragua that Germany is breaching the 1948 Genocide Convention by supplying arms to Israel for the Gaza war. ● Nicaragua has hauled Germany before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to demand that judges impose emergency measures to stop Berlin from providing Israel with weapons and other assistance. ● More than 34,000 people have been killed in the Palestinian territory since Israel's war on Gaza broke out in October. ● The ICJ in The Hague is scheduled to issue an order at 1300 GMT.

🔴 LIVE DAY 207 #Israel #Palestine

- ICJ to give orders on Nicaragua v. Germany
- Columbia University suspends student protesters
- US and UK urge Hamas to accept ceasefire deal

Follow our live coverage ⤵️https://t.co/1aIfFq6dcV

— Middle East Eye (@MiddleEastEye) April 30, 2024

■ Mapping pro-Palestine college campus protests around the world (Al Jazeera)
■ French university students join US-led protests over Israel’s war in Gaza (Al Jazeera)
■ San Francisco State University begins encampment for Palestine (Anadolu)
■ Group of pro-Palestinian students enters Hamilton Hall building at Columbia University (Anadolu)
■ Pro-Palestine protesters arrested at Texas university (VIDEOS) (RT.com)
■ Columbia suspends encampment protesters; movement unfazed (Al Mayadeen)

Turkiye has expressed support for outgoing Dutch Prime Minister Rutte's bid to head NATO, Dutch broadcaster NOS reported on Monday, citing sources in the military alliance. | Rutte came to Istanbul last week for a meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, one of the last holdouts. Only Turkiye, Hungary, Slovakia and Romania have not endorsed Rutte, who needs the support of all 32 member states to succeed Jens Stoltenberg. Romanian President Klaus Iohannis said in March that he would run for secretary general of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization but his candidacy has not been supported outside of eastern Europe.