Israel has criticized the International Criminal Court’s “absurd” arrest warrant against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, as “dead” Hamas leader Ibrahim Al-Masri is also included on the wanted list.
Along with Netanyahu, the ICC also issued an arrest warrant for his former Defense Minister, Yoav Gallant, for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
In their decision to grant the orders, ICC judges said there were reasonable grounds to believe that Netanyahu and Gallant were criminally responsible for the famine in Gaza and the persecution of Palestinians.
The warrant against Al-Masri lists charges of mass murder during the October 7, 2023, attacks on Israel that sparked the Gaza war, including rape and hostage-taking. The prosecutor’s office indicated that it would continue to gather information regarding his reported death.
ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan announced on May 20 that he was seeking arrest warrants for alleged crimes related to the Hamas-led attacks on Israel and the Israeli military response in Gaza.
Israel has rejected the jurisdiction of the Hague-based court and denies war crimes in Gaza. Israel has said it killed Al-Masri, also known as Mohammed Deif, in an airstrike, but Hamas has neither confirmed nor denied it.
Former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said the ICC’s decision to issue arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant was a “sign of shame” for the court.
Israel’s main opposition leader Yair Lapid also denounced the court’s move, calling it “a reward for terrorism,” while Israel’s Foreign Minister says the ICC lost legitimacy with the arrest warrants.” absurd.”
The International Criminal Court has issued arrest warrants for Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for alleged war crimes in Gaza.
Israel claims it killed Mohammed Deif in an airstrike but his death has never been confirmed
Israeli and Hamas leaders have dismissed accusations that they committed war crimes.
The arrest warrants make Netanyahu and the other men internationally wanted suspects and are likely to further isolate them and complicate efforts to negotiate a ceasefire to end the 13-month conflict.
But its practical implications could be limited since Israel and its main ally, the United States, are not members of the court and several of the Hamas officials have been killed later in the conflict.
The ICC said Israel was not required to accept the court’s jurisdiction, and that all the men would be arrested if they traveled to any of the more than 120 member countries.
Netanyahu and other Israeli leaders have condemned ICC Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan’s request for warrants as shameful and anti-Semitic.
US President Joe Biden also criticized the prosecutor and expressed support for Israel’s right to defend itself against Hamas. Hamas also criticized the request.
The court said today that there are “reasonable grounds” to believe that Netanyahu and Gallant oversaw attacks on civilians in Gaza.
A young displaced Palestinian tries to control a fire in the rubble following an Israeli strike that hit a UN-run school where people had taken refuge, in the Nusseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip on November 20 of 2024.
Palestinians walk amid the destruction following an Israeli attack in Jabalia, northern Gaza Strip, on November 10, 2024.
“The Chamber found that there are reasonable grounds to believe that both individuals intentionally and knowingly deprived the civilian population of Gaza of objects indispensable for their survival, including food, water, medicine and medical supplies, as well as fuel and electricity,” he wrote. a three-judge panel in its unanimous decision to issue injunctions for Netanyahu and Gallant.
Israel’s Foreign Ministry said in September that it had filed two legal briefs challenging the ICC’s jurisdiction and arguing that the court did not give Israel the opportunity to investigate the allegations itself before seeking the orders.
“No other democracy with an independent and respected legal system like the one that exists in Israel has been treated so prejudicially by the Prosecutor,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Oren Marmorstein wrote in X.
He said Israel remains “firm in its commitment to the rule of law and justice” and will continue to protect its citizens against militancy.
The ICC also issued an arrest warrant for Deif, saying it has “reasonable grounds to believe” that he is responsible for crimes against humanity, including murder, extermination, torture, rape, as well as war crimes, including hostage-taking.
Referring to the October 7 attacks, the court said: “In light of the coordinated killings of members of civilians in several separate locations, the Chamber also determined that the conduct took place as part of a mass murder of members of the civilian population, and therefore, concluded that there are reasonable grounds to believe that the crime against humanity of extermination was committed.’
“The Chamber found that there are reasonable grounds to believe that both individuals intentionally and knowingly deprived the civilian population of Gaza of objects essential for their survival,” the three-judge panel stated.
The court previously said it was seeking an arrest warrant for Ismail Haniyeh, the Hamas leader who was killed in an explosion in Tehran in July.
He also withdrew his request for a court order against Yahya Sinwar, the main architect of the October 7 massacre and Haniyeh’s successor, after he was killed by Israeli forces in Gaza last month.
The ICC is a court of last resort that only prosecutes cases when national law enforcement authorities are unable or unwilling to investigate.
Israel is not a member state of the court. The country has had difficulty investigating itself in the past, human rights groups say.
Despite the court orders, none of the suspects are likely to appear before judges in The Hague any time soon.
The court itself has no police to enforce orders, but instead relies on the cooperation of its member states.