The International Criminal Court has issued arrest warrants for Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
The ICC has also issued arrest warrants for several Hamas officials over the October 7 attacks that sparked Israel’s offensive in the Palestinian territory.
Among those with a warrant against him is the head of Hamas’s military wing, Mohammed Diab Ibrahim al Masri, known as Mohammed Deif, whom Israel claims it killed in an airstrike but whose death has never been confirmed.
The decision makes Netanyahu and the others internationally wanted suspects and is 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.
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.
“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 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.
This is breaking news, there will be more to follow.