An unprecedentedly bad year for beached dolphins on Cape Cod might have to do with warming waters changing the availability of the animals' food, said scientists hoping to curb the strandings.
Cape Cod, the Massachusetts peninsula beloved by beach tourists and seafood lovers, has a long history of marine mammal strandings. That is partially because of dramatic changes in the tide that sometimes trap wayward dolphins if they swim too close to shore.
But this year is different. The International Fund for Animal Welfare, which responds to marine mammal strandings, said Thursday it has responded to 342 live, stranded dolphins this year, and that is five times more than its annual average of 67.
An already bad year got worse earlier this month when the organization was inundated with calls about beached dolphins. More than 50 of the animals were stranded on multiple beaches and waterways in the span of a week, the organization said.
The massive number of strandings has stretched the group's resources and supplies, said Brian Sharp, marine mammal rescue team lead for the organization and a biologist by training. Scientists are still trying to determine what is causing the strandings, but they have noticed that the small fish the dolphins eat in high numbers have been swimming close to the shore, he said.
The dolphins seem to be following that food source and getting themselves in jeopardy, Sharp said.
“Any effect of climate change on ocean temperature, salinity, is going to affect the prey resource of the fish,” he said. “That as part of the food web is going to have kind of that ripple, that cascade effect throughout the food web, which eventually leads to marine mammals.”
Cape Cod is located near important dolphin feeding grounds, and the peninsula is popular with summer whale watchers because of its diversity of species. Most of the stranded dolphins have been common dolphins, Atlantic white-sided dolphins, Risso's dolphins and bottlenose dolphins, Sharp said.
Of the 342 stranded dolphins, 293 were able to be released back into the wild, Sharp said. More than 90 additional dolphins were found dead upon stranding, he said.
This year's strandings included a mass stranding event of more than 100 dolphins in the summer that rescuers said was the largest event of its kind in recorded U.S. history. The Cape can be difficult for the animals to navigate because of its sloping sandbars, hooked shape and sticky mudflats.
While the factors influencing the strandings are complex, a changing climate is clearly driving prey and predators to new areas at times of the year they were not previously expected, said Regina Asmutis-Silvia, executive director of conservation group Whale and Dolphin Conservation North America.
“We have had noticeable unseasonably warm temperatures on land lately around Cape Cod to remind us we are facing changes in the climate. But those changes don’t stop at the shoreline. They are being felt in the ocean too,” she said.
This month's rescue operations were made difficult by rough winds and surf and cold weather, the International Fund for Animal Welfare said in a statement. The dolphins that stranded this month might have been part of the same pod, or group, but why the group became stranded is still unclear, the organization said.
“Though Cape Cod has always seen more live dolphin strandings than anywhere else in the world, the numbers this year have reached historic highs,” the group said in a statement.
In this image provided by the International Fund for Animal Welfare, 12 dolphins, which were stranded near Lieutenant Island, are attended to in a mobile dolphin rescue vehicle, Nov. 14, 2024, in Wellfleet, Mass. An unprecedentedly bad year for beached dolphins on Cape Cod might have to do with warming waters changing the availability of the animals' food, said scientists hoping to curb the strandings. (International Fund for Animal Welfare via AP)
In this image provided by the International Fund for Animal Welfare, a stranded dolphin is attended to near Skaket Beach, Orleans, Nov. 9, 2024, in Orleans, Mass. An unprecedentedly bad year for beached dolphins on Cape Cod might have to do with warming waters changing the availability of the animals' food, said scientists hoping to curb the strandings. (International Fund for Animal Welfare via AP)
In this image provided by the International Fund for Animal Welfare, a stranded dolphin is attended to near Skaket Beach, Orleans, Nov. 9, 2024, in Orleans, Mass. An unprecedentedly bad year for beached dolphins on Cape Cod might have to do with warming waters changing the availability of the animals' food, said scientists hoping to curb the strandings. (International Fund for Animal Welfare via AP)
In this image provided by the International Fund for Animal Welfare, two dolphins are stranded along Ellis Landing, Nov. 9, 2024, in Brewster, Mass. An unprecedentedly bad year for beached dolphins on Cape Cod might have to do with warming waters changing the availability of the animals' food, said scientists hoping to curb the strandings. (International Fund for Animal Welfare via AP)
THE HAGUE (AP) — The world’s top war-crimes court issued arrest warrants Thursday for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, his former defense minister and Hamas’ military chief, accusing them of crimes against humanity in connection with the 13-month war in Gaza.
The warrants said there was reason to believe Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant have used “starvation as a method of warfare” by restricting humanitarian aid and have intentionally targeted civilians in Israel’s campaign against Hamas in Gaza — charges Israeli officials deny.
The action by the International Criminal Court came as the death toll from Israel’s campaign in Gaza passed 44,000 people, according to local health authorities, who say more than half of those killed were women and children. Their count does not differentiate between civilians and combatants.
Experts say hunger has become widespread across Gaza and may have reached famine levels in the north of the territory, which is under siege by Israeli troops. Israel says it has been working hard to improve entry of aid, though the trickle of supplies into Gaza remains near the lowest levels of the war.
Netanyahu condemned the warrant against him, saying Israel “rejects with disgust the absurd and false actions” by the court. In a statement released by his office, he said: “There is nothing more just than the war that Israel has been waging in Gaza.”
Gallant, in a statement, said the decision "sets a dangerous precedent against the right to self-defense and moral warfare and encourages murderous terrorism.”
The warrant marked the first time that a sitting leader of a major Western ally has been accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity by a global court of justice. The decision turns Netanyahu and the others into internationally wanted suspects, putting them at risk of arrest when they travel abroad and potentially further isolating them.
Israel and its top ally, the United States, are not members of the court. But others of Israel's allies, including some of its close European friends, are put in an awkward position. Several, including France, welcomed the court's decision and signaled they might arrest Netanyahu if he visited.
The move “represents the most dramatic step yet in the court’s involvement in the conflict between Israel and Hamas," said Anthony Dworkin, senior policy fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations.
Israeli leaders, politicians and officials across the spectrum denounced the warrants and the ICC. The new defense minister, Israel Katz, who replaced Gallant earlier this month, said Thursday’s decision is “a moral disgrace, entirely tainted by antisemitism, and drags the international judicial system to an unprecedented low.”
Human rights groups applauded the move.
The warrants against both sides “break through the perception that certain individuals are beyond the reach of the law,” the associate international justice director at Human Rights Watch, Balkees Jarrah, said in a statement.
The decision came six months after ICC Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan requested the warrants.
The court issued a warrant for Mohammed Deif, head of Hamas’ armed wing, over the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks that triggered Israel’s offensive in Gaza. It said it found reasonable grounds to believe Deif was involved in murder, rape, torture and the taking of hostages amounting to war crimes and crimes against humanity.
In the Hamas-led attack, militants stormed into southern Israel, killing 1,200 people — mostly civilians — and taking some 250 others hostage. Around 100 Israelis remain captive in Gaza, around a third of them believed to be dead.
Khan withdrew requests for warrants for two other senior Hamas figures, Yahya Sinwar and Ismail Haniyeh, who have both since been killed. Israel says it also killed Deif in an airstrike, but Hamas has never confirmed his death.
The warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant were issued by a three-judge panel in a unanimous decision. The panel said there were reasonable grounds to believe that both men bear responsibility for the war crime of starvation and the crimes against humanity of murder, persecution and other inhumane acts.
The judges said the lack of food, water, electricity, fuel and specific medical supplies created conditions “calculated to bring about the destruction of part of the civilian population in Gaza,” including the deaths of children due to malnutrition and dehydration.
They also found that by preventing hospital supplies and medicine from getting into Gaza, doctors were forced to operate, including performing amputations, without anesthesia or with unsafe means of sedation that led to “great suffering.”
Israeli diplomatic officials said the government is lobbying the international community to speak out against the warrants and is considering an appeal to the court. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity pending a formal decision on how the government will proceed.
Despite the warrants, none of the suspects is likely to face judges in The Hague anytime soon. Member countries are required to detain suspects facing a warrant if they set foot on their soil, but the court has no way to enforce that.
For example, Russian President Vladimir Putin, wanted on an ICC warrant for alleged war crimes in Ukraine, recently visited Mongolia, a member state in the court but also a Russian ally. He was not arrested.
Still, the threat of arrest now complicates any travel abroad by Netanyahu and Gallant. EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said the warrants are binding on all 27 members countries of the European Union.
France signaled it could arrest Netanyahu if he came to its territory. Foreign Ministry spokesman Christophe Lemoine called it a “complex legal issue” but said France supports the court’s actions.
“Combating impunity is our priority,” he said. “Our response will align with these principles.”
Hamas in a statement welcomed the warrants against Netanyahu and Gallant but made no mention of the one against Deif.
Israel’s opposition leaders fiercely criticized the ICC’s move. Benny Gantz, a retired general and political rival to Netanyahu, said it showed “moral blindness” and was a “shameful stain of historic proportion that will never be forgotten.”
Israel’s campaign has caused heavy destruction across Gaza and driven almost the entire population of 2.3 million people from their homes, leaving most dependent on aid to survive.
Two days after Hamas’ attack on southern Israel, Gallant announced a total seal on Gaza, vowing not to let in food, fuel or other supplies. Under U.S. pressure, Israel began allowing a trickle of humanitarian aid to enter a few weeks later.
Israel now says it puts no limit on the supplies permitted into Gaza, and it blames the U.N. distribution system. But Israel's official figures show the amount of aid it has let in has plunged since the beginning of October. The U.N has blamed Israeli military restrictions, along with widespread lawlessness that has led to theft of aid shipments.
The case at the ICC is separate from another legal battle Israel is waging at the top U.N. court, the International Court of Justice, in which South Africa accuses Israel of genocide, an allegation Israeli leaders staunchly deny.
Lawyers for Israel argued in court that the war in Gaza was a legitimate defense of its people and that it was Hamas militants who were guilty of genocide.
Associated Press journalists Raf Casert in Brussels, Mike Corder in The Hague and Josef Federman in Jerusalem contributed to this report.
FILE - Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu enters the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly, Friday, Sept. 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Pamela Smith, File)
FILE - Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addresses the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly, Friday, Sept. 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Richard Drew, File)
FILE - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, left, and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant attend a press conference in the Kirya military base in Tel Aviv, Israel, Saturday, Oct. 28, 2023. (Abir Sultan/Pool Photo via AP, File)
FILE - Karim Khan, Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court looks up prior to a press conference in The Hague, Netherlands, Monday, July 3, 2023. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong, File)
FILE - Yehiyeh Sinwar, head of Hamas in Gaza, attends a rally marking "Jerusalem Day," or Al-Quds Day, an annual celebration to support Palestinians in the holy city, at a soccer filed in Gaza City, on April 14, 2023. (AP Photo/Fatima Shbair, File)
FILE - Israel's Defense Minister Yoav Gallant speaks during a ceremony marking the Hebrew calendar anniversary of the Hamas attack on October 7 last year that sparked the ongoing war in Gaza, at the Mount Herzl military cemetery in Jerusalem, Israel Sunday Oct. 27, 2024. (Gil Cohen-Magen/Pool Photo via AP, File)
FILE - Ismail Haniyeh, leader of the Palestinian militant group Hamas, speaks to journalists after his meeting with Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, in Beirut, Lebanon, June 28, 2021. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar, File)
Palestinian kids sort through trash at a landfill in Zawaida, Gaza Strip, Sunday, Nov. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
Israeli Defense Forces soldiers mourn at the grave of Sgt. First Class (res.) Roi Sasson, who was killed in action in the Gaza Strip, during his funeral at Mt. Herzl military cemetery in Jerusalem, Wednesday, Nov. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo)
The family of Israeli Defense Forces Sgt. First Class (res.) Roi Sasson, who was killed in action in the Gaza Strip, walk behind his coffin during his funeral at Mt. Herzl military cemetery in Jerusalem, Wednesday, Nov. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo)
FILE - Benny Gantz, a key member of Israel's War Cabinet and the top political rival of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, leaves after a meeting at the State Department, Tuesday, March 5, 2024, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein, File)
FILE - Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addresses lawmakers in the Knesset, Israel's parliament, in Jerusalem. Monday Nov. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg, File)
Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addresses lawmakers in the Knesset, Israel's parliament, in Jerusalem. Monday Nov. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)
