ICC issues arrest warrants for Netanyahu, Gallant, Deif

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The International Criminal Court on Thursday issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, as well as Hamas’s military chief Mohammed Deif.

The ICC’s move now theoretically restricts Netanyahu’s movement, as any of the court’s 124 national members would be required to arrest him on their territory.

“The Chamber issued arrest warrants for two individuals, Mr. Benjamin Netanyahu and Mr. Yoav Gallant, for crimes against humanity and war crimes committed from at least October 8, 2023 to at least May 20, 2024, the day the prosecution submitted the applications for warrants of arrest,” the Hague-based ICC said in a statement.

A warrant had also been issued for Deif, it added.

Israel said in early August that it had killed Deif in an airstrike in southern Gaza in July, although Hamas denies he is dead.

The arrest warrants had been classified as “secret”, to protect witnesses and to ensure the completion of the investigations, the court said.

“However, the chamber decided to release the below information as conduct similar to that addressed in the warrant appears to be ongoing,” the court said.

“Furthermore, the department considers it to be in the interests of the victims and their families that they be made aware of the warrants’ existence.”

In May, ICC Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan asked the court to issue arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

Netanyahu fired Gallant as defense minister on November 5.

Khan also sought warrants against top Hamas leaders, including Mohammed Deif, on suspicion of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Prosecutors dropped the application for Ismail Haniyeh, the group’s political leader, on Aug. 2 “due to the changed circumstances caused by the death of Mr. Haniyeh” in Tehran on July 31, the ICC said earlier in a statement.

Since Hamas carried out its attack on October 7, 2023, the deadliest in Israel’s history, Israel has been fighting a war in Gaza, which the militant group controls.

The war was sparked by Hamas militants’ attack on Israel, a stunning cross-border raid that left 1,206 people dead, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.

The Hamas government’s health ministry in the Gaza Strip said on Thursday that at least 44,056 people had been killed in more than 13 months of war between Israel and Palestinian militants.

The figure includes 71 deaths in the previous 24 hours, according to the ministry, which said 104,268 people had been injured in the Gaza Strip since the war began.