The chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court said today that he is seeking arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, as well as three Hamas leaders.
In an interview on Monday, British lawyer Karim Khan said the warrants are for war crimes and crimes against humanity for the terrorist group Hamas’ deadly Oct. 7 attack on Israel and Israel’s subsequent war in the Gaza Strip. .
He said warrants were being sought for Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, Mohammed Diab Ibrahim al-Masri (alias Mohammed Deif), leader of the Al Qassem Brigades, Hamas’ military wing, and Ismail Haniyeh, Hamas’s political leader.
Khan told CNN that charges against the trio include “extermination, murder, hostage-taking, rape and sexual assault in detention.”
“The world was shocked on October 7 when people were torn from their bedrooms, from their homes, from the different kibbutzim in Israel,” Khan told CNN anchor Christiane Amanpour, adding that “people have suffered enormously.”
The chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court said today that he is seeking arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (pictured) and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, as well as three Hamas leaders.
Khan said arrest warrants were being sought for three Hamas leaders, including Yahya Sinwar (pictured, file photo).
The ICC is also seeking arrest warrants for Mohammed Diab Ibrahim al-Masri (aka Mohammed Deif, pictured left), leader of the Al Qassem Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, and Ismail Haniyeh, Hamas’ political leader with based in Qatar.
An arrest warrant is also sought for Israel’s Defense Minister Yoav Gallant (pictured).
In a separate statement, he said he saw for himself “the devastating scenes of these attacks and the profound impact of the unconscionable crimes charged in the lawsuits filed today.”
‘Talking to survivors, I heard how the love within a family, the deepest bonds between a parent and child, were twisted to inflict unfathomable pain through calculated cruelty and extreme callousness. These acts demand responsibility.”
He also said the ICC was seeking injunctions for Netanyahu and Gallant for their involvement in the attack on the Gaza Strip that continues today.
“We have requested court orders; of course, the judges must determine whether to issue them or not, but we have requested them today,” he told Amanpour.
He said the charges against Netanyahu and Gallant include “crimes of causing extermination, causing famine as a method of war, including the denial of humanitarian aid supplies, and deliberately attacking civilians in conflict.”
Speaking of Israel’s actions, Khan said in a statement that ‘the effects of using starvation as a method of warfare, along with other attacks and collective punishments against Gaza’s civilian population, are acute, visible and widely known.’
“They include malnutrition, dehydration, profound suffering and an increasing number of deaths among the Palestinian population, including babies, other children and women,” he added.
The United Nations and other aid agencies have repeatedly accused Israel of hindering aid deliveries during the war. Israel denies this, saying there are no restrictions on aid entering Gaza and accusing the UN of failing to distribute aid.
The UN says aid workers have been repeatedly attacked by Israel and also says ongoing fighting and a security vacuum have prevented deliveries.
In an interview on Monday, Karim Khan (pictured in April) said the warrants are for war crimes and crimes against humanity for the terrorist group’s deadly attack on October 7 and Israel’s subsequent war in the Strip. Loop.
Israel launched its war in response to a cross-border Hamas attack on Oct. 7 that killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took another 250 hostage.
The Israeli offensive has killed some 35,000 Palestinians, at least half of them women and children, according to the latest estimates by Gaza health officials.
The Israeli offensive has also triggered a humanitarian crisis in Gaza, displacing approximately 80 percent of the population and leaving hundreds of thousands of people on the brink of famine, according to U.N. officials.
The prosecutor must request the orders from a three-judge pretrial panel, which takes an average of two months to consider the evidence and determine whether the process can move forward.
Israel is not a member of the court, and even if arrest warrants are issued, Netanyahu and Gallant face no immediate risk of prosecution.
But Khan’s announcement deepens Israel’s isolation as its war progresses, and the threat of arrest could make it difficult for Israeli leaders to travel abroad.
Both Sinwar and Deif are believed to be hiding in Gaza as Israel attempts to hunt them down. But Haniyeh, the Islamic militant group’s supreme leader, is based in Qatar and travels frequently in the region.
There was no immediate comment from either side when approached by the Associated Press, the news agency reported.
Meanwhile, on Monday, Gallant said the Israeli military would expand its operations in the southern Gaza city of Rafah in talks with US national security adviser Jake Sullivan, who met with Israeli military leaders in Tel Aviv.
Sullivan’s visit comes two weeks after the military incursion into Rafah, where troops have been fighting Hamas fighters and increasing shelling.
The Biden administration has opposed a full invasion of Rafah out of fear for the civilian population.
Smoke rises during the Israeli bombardment in eastern Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on May 19, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas.
Palestinians recover items from the rubble of a family home that was hit overnight during an Israeli bombardment in the Tal al-Sultan neighborhood of Rafah, southern Gaza, May 20, 2024.
Until now, Israeli forces have been operating mainly in the eastern parts of the city, but the fighting has already caused an exodus of more than 810,000 Palestinians, according to the United Nations.
“I emphasized (to Sullivan) Israel’s duty to expand the ground operation in Rafah, dismantle Hamas and return the hostages,” Gallant said in a post on X.
On his visit, Sullivan also discussed post-war plans for Gaza at a time when Netanyahu faces criticism from other members of his war cabinet.
Netanyahu’s main political rival, Benny Gantz, has threatened to leave the government if a plan is not created by June 8 that includes an international administration for post-war Gaza.
