The International Criminal Court has issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.
The Hague Tribunal announced in a statement on Thursday that the court’s Pre-Trial Chamber I had “issued warrants of arrest for two individuals, Mr. Benjamin Netanyahu and Mr. Yoav Gallant, for crimes against humanity and war crimes committed from at least 8 October 2023 until at least 20 May 2024, the day the Prosecution filed the applications for warrants of arrest.”
Explaining the warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant, the court said it found reasonable grounds to believe both men “bear criminal responsibility for the following crimes as co-perpetrators for committing the acts jointly with others: the war crime of starvation as a method of warfare; and the crimes against humanity of murder, persecution, and other inhumane acts.”
The court also said that it had reasonable grounds to believe Netanyahu and Gallant were responsible for the “war crime of intentionally directing attacks against the civilian population.”
However, information on only two incidents was provided to the court.
Jerusalem had challenged the jurisdiction of the court, but The Hague rejected it, claiming that the court can exercise its authority on the basis of the Palestinian Authority’s membership.
The Hague also ruled that countries are not entitled to dispute the ICC’s jurisdiction before arrest warrants are issued.
The court has also issued an arrest warrant for the supreme commander of Hamas’s military wing, Mohammed Deif, according to another statement. However, Israel Defense Forces has said that Deif was killed in an airstrike on July 13.
The court said it issued the warrant for Deif because it had “reasonable grounds to believe that senior leaders of Hamas, comprising of at least Mr. Deif, Mr. Sinwar, and Mr. Haniyeh, agreed to jointly carry out the 7 October 2023 Operation.”
That attack resulted in the death of approximately 1,200 civilians at the hands of Hamas-led terrorists. Another 251 were taken hostage and dozens remain captive.