The International Criminal Court (ICC) has issued an arrest warrant against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Israeli defence minister Yoav Gallant amid the ongoing Middle-East conflict.
The International Court issued the warrants accusing both the leaders of crimes against humanity and war crimes over the ongoing conflict in Gaza.
The ICC said there were “reasonable grounds" to believe that Netanyahu and Gallant “bear criminal responsibility for the war crime of starvation as a method of warfare".
In its statement, the ICC’s Pre-Trial Chamber I, a panel of three judges, said it has rejected appeals by Israel challenging its jurisdiction.
The chamber said the arrest warrants are classified as “secret" but that it has decided to release them because “conduct similar to that addressed in the warrant of arrest appears to be ongoing," referring to the ongoing Israeli onslaught on Gaza and the continued detention of Israeli captives by Hamas.
The Chamber also accused Netanyahu and Gallant of “intentionally and knowingly deprived" Gaza’s civilians of food, water, medicine, medical supplies and fuel and electricity.
The Hague-based court also issued a warrant for Mohammed Diab Ibrahim al-Masri, the Hamas military chief also known as Mohammed Deif. Israel said in August it had killed Deif in an airstrike in Gaza earlier this year. However, Hamas had neither confirmed nor denied this.
Meanwhile, Dutch foreign minister Caspar Veldkamp has said Netanyahu would be arrested on ICC warrant if he travels to the Netherlands, reported BNO news.
The decision turned Netanyahu and other leaders into internationally wanted suspects and is likely to further isolate them and complicate efforts to negotiate a cease-fire to end the 13-month conflict. But its practical implications could be limited since Israel and the United States, are not members of the court and several of the Hamas officials have been subsequently killed in the conflict.
In May 2024, ICC’s chief prosecutor Karim Khan appealed in the court to issue the warrants against the Israeli leaders for committing war crimes and crimes against humanity. Israel had rejected the jurisdiction of the Hague-based court and denied war crimes in Gaza.
Netanyahu had condemned Khan’s request for warrants as disgraceful and antisemitic. US President Joe Biden had also blasted the prosecutor and had expressed support for Israel’s right to defend itself against Hamas.
The Israeli Foreign Ministry said in September that it had submitted two legal briefs challenging the ICC’s jurisdiction and arguing that the court did not provide Israel the opportunity to investigate the allegations itself before requesting the warrants.
“No other democracy with an independent and respected legal system like that which exists in Israel has been treated in this prejudicial manner by the Prosecutor," Foreign Ministry spokesperson Oren Marmorstein wrote on X.
He said Israel remained “steadfast in its commitment to the rule of law and justice" and would continue to protect its citizens against militancy.
The Gaza war started after Hamas’s October 7 attack which sparked an Israeli retaliation that has brought a spiralling civilian death toll and levelled vast swathes of Gaza. Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel resulted in the deaths of more than 1,170 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures. Hamas also took 252 hostages, 124 of whom remain in Gaza including 37 the army says are dead.
The ICC was established in 2002, and is headquartered in The Hague, Netherlands. It is a permanent global court that can prosecute individuals, rogue leaders for atrocities, war crimes, genocides and crimes against humanity. The ICC was formed after the Yugoslav wars from 1991 to 2001 and the Rwandan Genocide in 1994.
Unlike the International Court of Justice (ICJ), the ICC is not an organ of the United Nations and does not prosecute states. Although the ICC is independent of the UN, it is endorsed by the General Assembly and maintains a cooperation agreement with the UN.
Source: News18