Arrest warrants issued for Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and former Defense Secretary Gallant over alleged war crimes | World news

The International Criminal Court (ICC) has issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Secretary Yoav Gallant.

The orders are for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity related to the war in Gaza to Israel launched after Hamas’s October 7 attack.

A second warrant was issued for the arrest of the Hamas leader Mohammed Diab Ibrahim al Masri for war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Al Masri, also known as Mohammed Deif, was the mastermind behind the October 7 attacks.

It is unclear if he is still alive, after an airstrike that Israel claimed killed him earlier this year.

Neither Israel nor the United States are members of the ICC. Israel has rejected the court’s jurisdiction and denies having committed war crimes in Gaza.

Former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said the warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant were a “shame” for the ICC.

The court initially said it sought arrest warrants for the three men in May for the alleged crimes and announced today that it had rejected challenges from Israel and issued the arrest warrants.

The new British Labor government said this summer that it would not oppose the ICC’s right to issue warrants.

Warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant

In its update, the ICC said it found “reasonable grounds to believe” that Netanyahu and Gallant “bear criminal responsibility” for alleged crimes.

These, the court said, include “the war crime of starvation as a method of warfare; and crimes against humanity in the form of murder, persecution and other inhuman acts”.

Netanyahu has previously spoken about his “disgust” at the suggestion that the ICC would seek an arrest warrant for him.

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Order to the Hamas leader

The ICC also said it has issued an arrest warrant for Hamas leader Al Masri, saying it has “reasonable grounds to believe” he is responsible for crimes against humanity, including murder, extermination, torture, rape, as well as war crimes, including hostage-taking. .

Discussing the October 7 attacks, the court said: “In light of the coordinated killings of members of the civilian population at several different locations, the Chamber also found that the conduct occurred as part of a mass killing of members of the civilian population, and it therefore concluded, that there are reasonable grounds to believe that the crime against humanity of extinction was committed.”

In its statement, the ICC said the prosecution was unable to determine whether Al Masri is dead or alive, so issued the arrest warrant.

The court previously said it was seeking an arrest warrant for Ismail Haniyeh, the leader of Hamas subsequently killed in July.