ICC issues arrest warrant for Netanyahu

Prosecutors in The Hague are also seeking the detention of Israel’s former defence minister, Yoav Gallant

The International Criminal Court (ICC) has issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former defense minister Yoav Gallant for alleged war crimes during the war with Hamas in Gaza. The Jewish state does not recognize the court’s jurisdiction.

In a press release on Thursday, the ICC accused the two politicians of “crimes against humanity” committed between October 2023 – when Hamas launched a surprise attack on Israel – and May 2024, when the application for warrants was filled out.

The ICC said that while the warrants are classified as ‘secret’ to “protect witnesses and safeguard the investigations,” there are “reasonable grounds both individuals intentionally and knowingly deprived the civilian population in Gaza of objects indispensable to their survival, including food, water, and medicine and medical supplies, as well as fuel and electricity.”

It also accused Netanyahu and Gallant of using “starvation as a method of warfare,” adding that such policies have caused civilian deaths. The court also claimed that Netanyahu and Gallant could bear “criminal responsibility as civilian superiors for the war crime of intentionally directing attacks against the civilian population of Gaza.”

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Members of the Rome Statute, under which the ICC operates, are obliged to cooperate in arresting Netanyahu and Gallant should they travel to their territory, to be later transferred to The Hague for trial. Many nations, however, including the US, Russia and China, do not recognize the ICC.

Netanyahu and Gallant have yet to comment on the accusations. In May, however, the ex-defense chief blasted an ICC prosecutor’s decision to seek an arrest warrant as a “despicable” attempt to draw parallels between Hamas and Israel, which he said was exercising its right for self-defense.

The same day, the ICC issued an arrest warrant for Mohammed Diab Ibrahim Al-Masri, a senior Hamas commander, over alleged war crimes committed on Israeli and Palestinian territory. The court said he was suspected of a long list of crimes against humanity, including murder, extermination, torture, rape and other form of sexual violence, as well as taking hostages. According to unconfirmed reports, the Hamas commander was killed in action in July.

The court previously sought to prosecute two other senior Hamas leaders, Ismail Haniyeh and Yahya Sinwar, but dropped the charges after it was confirmed that they had been eliminated by Israel.