ICC prosecutor seeks arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Hamas chiefs

The Hague — The chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) has applied for warrants of arrest for two Israeli and three Hamas leaders for war crimes.

Prosecutor Karim Khan said on Monday that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and defence minister Yoav Gallant must shoulder responsibility for “war crimes” in the Gaza Strip.

These include “starvation of civilians as a method of warfare as a war crime” and “intentionally directing attacks against a civilian population as a war crime”, among other alleged breaches of the Rome statute.

“My office submits that the war crimes alleged in these applications were committed in the context of an international armed conflict between Israel and Palestine, and a noninternational armed conflict between Israel and Hamas (with other Palestinian armed groups) running in parallel,” Khan said in a statement.

“We submit that the crimes against humanity charged were committed as part of a widespread and systematic attack against the Palestinian civilian population pursuant to state policy.

“These crimes, in our assessment, continue to this day.

“My office submits that the evidence we have collected, including interviews with survivors and eyewitnesses, authenticated video, photo and audio material, satellite imagery and statements from the alleged perpetrator group, shows that Israel has intentionally and systematically deprived the civilian population in all parts of Gaza of objects indispensable to human survival.”

Khan applied for the arrest of the Hamas leader in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar, for war crimes.

He also wants two of Hamas’ senior leaders, Mohammed Diab Ibrahim Al-Masri and Ismail Haniyeh, arrested alongside Sinwar.

If the application is granted by the ICJ, they stand to face charges for allegedly breaching the Rome Statute by using extermination, murder, and rape as a crime against humanity, and murder. They will also face charges of using torture as a crime against humanity and taking hostages as a war crime.

Khan said his office believed there were reasonable grounds to believe that hostages taken from Israel were kept in inhumane conditions and that some had been subject to sexual violence, including rape.

“It is the view of my office that these individuals planned and instigated the commission of crimes on October 7 2023, and have through their own actions, including personal visits to hostages shortly after their kidnapping, acknowledged their responsibility for those crimes,” he said.

“During my own visit to Kibbutz Be’eri and Kibbutz Kfar Aza, as well as to the site of Supernova Music Festival in Re’im, I saw the devastating scenes of these attacks and the profound impact of the unconscionable crimes charged in the applications filed today ... These acts demand accountability.” Iranian-Israeli tension has have long simmered in the shadows of the broader Middle East. Iran has, since the 1979 revolution, taken an anti-Israeli posture and as part of its deterrence strategy.

SA took Israel to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in January, and won an interim finding that there was a risk of violation of the rights of the Palestinian people to protection from genocide.

The ICJ order demanded Israel take measures to desist from killing Palestinians in contravention of the genocide convention among other steps, but did not impose a ceasefire, as requested by SA.

SA was back at the ICJ last week, requesting the court to order Israel to withdraw its army from Gaza Strip.

Khan said that if his request was granted, he would work closely with the registrar “in all efforts to apprehend the named individuals”.

“Today we once again underline that international law and the laws of armed conflict apply to all. No foot soldier, no commander, no civilian leader — no-one — can act with impunity.

“Nothing can justify wilfully depriving human beings, including so many women and children, of the necessities required for life. Nothing can justify the taking of hostages or the targeting of civilians,” he said. 

Reuters