Top war crimes courts issue arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Hamas officials

THE HAGUE (AP) – The world’s top war crimes tribunal on Thursday issued arrest warrants for the leaders of Israel and Hamas, including Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, accusing them of crimes against humanity in connection with their war that began more than a year ago.

The indictments against Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant focus on allegations that Israel has used food as a weapon in its campaign against Hamas in Gaza, a charge Israeli officials deny. Experts have warned that hunger has spread across Gaza and may have reached famine in the northern part of the territory, which is under siege by Israeli troops.

The action by the International Criminal Court came as the death toll from Israel’s campaign in Gaza passed 44,000 people, according to local health authorities, who say more than half of those killed were women and children. Their numbers do not distinguish between civilians and combatants.

Netanyahu condemned the arrest warrant against him, saying Israel “rejects with disgust the absurd and false actions of the court”. In a statement released by his office, he said: “There is nothing more just than the war that Israel has waged in Gaza.”

The decision makes Netanyahu and the others internationally wanted suspects and could isolate them furtheras well as complicating efforts to negotiate a ceasefire. But its practical implications may be limited since Israel and its main ally, the United States, are not members of the court.

Israeli leaders, politicians and officials across the spectrum condemned the rulings and the ICC. New Defense Secretary Israel Katz, who replaced Gallant earlier this month, said Thursday’s decision is “a moral disgrace, completely tainted by anti-Semitism and drags the international legal system to an unprecedented low.”

Human rights groups welcomed the move.

The orders against both sides “break through the perception that certain individuals are beyond the reach of the law,” Balkees Jarrah, associate international justice director at Human Rights Watch, said in a statement.

The decision came six months after ICC Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan requested the warrants.

The court issued a warrant to Mohammed Deif, head of Hamas’s armed wing, over October 7, 2023, attack which triggered Israel’s offensive in Gaza. It said it found reasonable grounds to believe that Deif was involved in murder, rape, torture and hostage-taking, which amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity.

In the Hamas-led attack, militants stormed into southern Israel, killing 1,200 people – mostly civilians – and taking about 250 others hostage. About 100 Israelis remain trapped in Gaza, about a third of them believed to be dead.

Khan withdrew his request for warrants for two other senior Hamas figures, Yahya Sinwar and Ismail Haniyehboth of whom have since been killed. Israel says it also killed Deif in an airstrike, but Hamas has never confirmed his death.

Warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant were issued by a three-judge panel in a unanimous decision.

The panel said there were reasonable grounds to believe they “intentionally and knowingly deprived the civilian population of Gaza of items indispensable to their survival”, including food, water, medicine, fuel and electricity.

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

The ICC is a last resort that only prosecutes cases when national law enforcement authorities cannot or will not investigate. Israel is not a member of the court. The country has previously struggled to investigate itself, rights groups say.

Despite the rulings, none of the suspects is likely to face judges in The Hague in the near future. Member states are required to detain suspects facing a warrant if they set foot on their soil, but the court has no way to enforce it.

For example, Russian President Vladimir Putin, who is wanted on an ICC warrant for alleged war crimes in Ukraine, recently visited Mongolia, a member state of the court but also a Russian ally. He was not arrested.

Still, the threat of arrest now complicates any trip abroad by Netanyahu and Gallant — including to nurture allies of Israel such as France or Britain, said Yuval Shany, an international law expert at Jerusalem’s Hebrew University.

France signaled it could arrest Netanyahu if he came to its territory. Foreign Ministry spokesman Christophe Lemoine called it a “complex legal issue” but said France supports the court’s actions.

“Fighting impunity is our priority,” he said. “Our response will be consistent with these principles.”

Israel’s opposition leaders fiercely criticized the ICC’s move. Benny Gantz, a retired general and political rival of Netanyahu, said it showed “moral blindness” and was a “shameful stain of historical proportion that will never be forgotten.”

Yair Lapid, another opposition leader, called it a “price for terror.”

Shortly after Israel launched its campaign vowing to destroy Hamas after the October attacks, it announced a total blockade of Gaza, vowing not to let in food, water or other supplies. Under American pressure, it began to allow a stream of humanitarian aid to enter a few weeks later. The campaign has caused widespread devastation across Gaza and driven almost the entire population of 2.3 million people from their homes, leaving most dependent on humanitarian aid for survival.

Israel now says it does not set any limit on the amount of supplies to Gaza. Still, the flow of food and other goods is at near-war lows, and the United Nations and other groups have said Israeli military restrictions are largely to blame, along with widespread lawlessness that has led to the theft of aid shipments.

The case at the ICC is separate from another legal battle Israel is waging at the UN’s highest court, the International Court of Justice, where South Africa accuses Israel of genocidea claim Israeli leaders vehemently deny.

Lawyers for Israel argued in court that the war in Gaza was a legitimate defense of its people and that it was Hamas militants who were guilty of genocide.

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Associated Press reporters Raf Casert in Brussels, Mike Corder in The Hague and Josef Federman in Jerusalem contributed to this report.