ICC issues arrest warrant for Benjamin Netanyahu for alleged Gaza war crimes | Benjamin Netanyahu

The International Criminal Court has issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the country’s former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and Hamas leader Mohammed Deif for alleged war crimes in connection with the Gaza war.

The orders put Netanyahu and Gallant at risk of arrest if they travel abroad. There have been unconfirmed reports that Deif may have been killed by Israel.

The court’s chief prosecutor, Karim Khan, had requested the arrest warrants in May, saying there were reasonable grounds to believe Netanyahu and Gallant bore “criminal responsibility” for causing mass starvation in Gaza, amounting to war crimes and crimes against humanity.

On Thursday, the court said it had found reasonable grounds to believe Deif was responsible for crimes against humanity and war crimes, including murder, torture, rape and hostage-taking.

The US has previously welcomed the ICC’s war crimes warrants against Vladimir Putin and other Russian officials for atrocities committed in Ukraine, while condemning the court’s prosecution of Netanyahu and Gallant, a mixed stance that has exposed the Biden administration to accusations of double standards from many UN members. , especially from the global south.

In its unanimous decision to issue warrants to Netanyahu and Gallant, the three-judge panel wrote: “The Chamber found that there are reasonable grounds to believe that both individuals willfully and knowingly deprived the civilian population of Gaza of items indispensable to their survival, including food, water and medicine and medical supplies as well as fuel and electricity.”

Israel has rejected the jurisdiction of the court, which is based in The Hague, and denies war crimes in Gaza. The ICC said Thursday that Israel’s acceptance of the court’s jurisdiction was not required.

The Israeli Foreign Ministry said in September that it had submitted two legal briefs challenging the ICC’s jurisdiction, arguing that the court did not allow Israel to investigate the charges itself before requesting the rulings.

Some member states have previously ignored ICC rulings, but Netanyahu and Gallant would nevertheless risk arrest if they traveled to a country that had signed the 1998 Rome Statute.

Khan had sought warrants for three Hamas leaders, two of whom have since been killed, for alleged war crimes in connection with the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel, in which fighters killed more than 1,200 Israelis, mostly civilians, and kidnapped 250.

Israel has said it also killed Deif in an airstrike, but Hamas has neither confirmed nor denied this.

The arrest warrants may increase external pressure on Netanyahu’s government as the US seeks to broker a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, but may well strengthen the prime minister’s political position in Israel in the short term, as most Israelis reject the ICC’s jurisdiction as interference in Israel. their country’s internal affairs.

Joe Biden has said he does not think Netanyahu is doing enough to secure a ceasefire after the Israeli leader pledged not to compromise Israeli control of strategic territory inside Gaza. Netanyahu has accused Hamas of failing to negotiate in good faith.