ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan is seeking an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for alleged war crimes.
The chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) has requested arrest warrants for senior Israeli and Hamas leaders for alleged war crimes.
ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan said Monday that his office had requested arrest warrants for Israeli and Hamas leaders for alleged crimes committed during the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on southern Hamas. Israel and the Israeli war against Gaza that followed.
Khan announced that his office had “reasonable grounds” to believe that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant bore “criminal responsibility” for “war crimes and crimes against humanity.”
Khan also requested arrest warrants for three Hamas leaders – Yahya Sinwar, Mohammed Diab Ibrahim al-Masri (also known as Deif) and Ismail Haniyeh – for war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Khan said his team found evidence that Israel had “intentionally and systematically deprived the civilian population in all areas of Gaza of items essential for human survival.”
“This occurred alongside other attacks on civilians, including those queuing for food; obstruction of the delivery of aid by humanitarian agencies; and attacks and killings of aid workers, which have forced many agencies to cease or limit their operations in Gaza,” he said.
Khan added that Israel’s siege of the Gaza Strip by closing border crossings and restricting the transfer of food, water and medical supplies was part of an Israeli plan to use starvation as a “method of warfare.” “.
Regarding the crimes allegedly perpetrated by Hamas, Khan said his office had “reasonable grounds to believe” that Sinwar, Deif and Haniyeh were “criminally responsible for the murder of hundreds of Israeli civilians” during the October 7 attacks.
Hamas’s attacks on southern Israel “demand accountability,” he said, adding that there were also “reasonable grounds” to believe that captives captured by the group and held in Gaza were detained in “inhumane conditions and that some were subjected to sexual violence”. , including rape, while held in captivity.”
Hamas denounced the request for arrest warrants against its Israeli leaders and officials, which it said “equates the victim with the executioner.”
In a statement, the group said it had the right to resist Israeli occupation, including “armed resistance.”
Israel is not a member of the ICC and does not recognize its jurisdiction. Several Israeli ministers denounced Khan’s announcement.
War Minister Benny Gantz said the move was a “crime of historic proportions.”
“Drawing parallels between the leaders of a democratic country determined to defend themselves against despicable terrorism and the leaders of a bloodthirsty terrorist organization constitutes a profound distortion of justice and a blatant moral bankruptcy,” Gantz said.
Opposition leader Yair Lapid called the decision a “disaster.” Far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said the move was a “show of hypocrisy and hatred towards Jews.”
“The arrest warrants against them are arrest warrants against all of us,” he said.
Last month, Netanyahu said it would be a “scandal of historic proportions” if the ICC issued arrest warrants for senior government officials.
“I want to make one thing clear: no decision, neither in The Hague nor elsewhere, will undermine our determination to achieve all the objectives of the war – the release of all our hostages, a complete victory over Hamas and the promise that Gaza will no longer pose a threat to Israel,” he said.
At least 35,562 people have been killed in Israel’s war on Gaza, according to Palestinian health authorities, and aid agencies have also warned of widespread famine and severe shortages of fuel and medical supplies.
At least 1,139 people were killed in the Hamas-led attack on Israel, according to an Tel Aviv Tribune tally based on Israeli statistics, and around 250 others were taken hostage.
