The International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants on Thursday for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, his former defense chief Yoav Gallant, and Hamas leader Ibrahim Al-Masri for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity related to the Gaza conflict.
The ICC judges declared that there were valid reasons to suspect that Yoav Gallant and Netanyahu were involved in a “widespread and systematic attack against the civilian population of Gaza” that included crimes such as murder, persecution, and the use of starvation as a weapon of war.
There were also reasonable grounds to believe that the blockade on Gaza, along with the lack of food, water, electricity, fuel, and medical supplies, “created conditions of life calculated to bring about the destruction of part of the civilian population in Gaza, which resulted in the death of civilians, including children, due to malnutrition and dehydration,” according to the judges.
Israel strongly disapproved of the decision, describing it as humiliating and ridiculous. Gazans hoped it would end violence and force war criminals to face justice.
While Israel claims credit for killing Ibrahim Al-Masri in July’s airstrike, Hamas has remained silent on the matter. Regarding his alleged death, the prosecution has declared its intention to continue gathering information.
In Gaza, Israel has denied the existence of war crimes and has rejected the jurisdiction of the Hague-based court.
The United States, Israel’s primary diplomatic ally, is not a member of the ICC. It declared that it “fundamentally rejects” the action.
The spokesperson for the White House National Security Council expressed profound concern over the prosecutor’s haste in obtaining arrest warrants, as well as the concerning process errors that led to this decision. The spokesperson also stated that the U.S. is currently in the process of discussing the next steps with its partners.
The European Union, Australia, Canada, Britain, Brazil, Japan, and dozens of African and Latin American countries support the ICC, the world’s permanent war crimes court. However, Russia, China, and India have not signed on.
On May 20, the ICC prosecutor, Karim Khan, declared that he was in the process of obtaining arrest warrants for alleged crimes related to the Israeli military response in Gaza and the Hamas-led attacks on Israel. Israeli and Hamas leaders have dismissed allegations that they committed war crimes.
The court, which lacks its own police force, is dependent on its 124 member states to conduct arrests. If they choose not to conduct arrests, the court has limited diplomatic options to compel them to comply.
Khan encouraged the signatories of the court’s founding treaty to “respect and comply with these judicial orders in order to fulfill their commitment to the Rome Statute.”
Josep Borrell, the EU’s foreign policy chief, stated that the decision was not political but rather made by a court, and as such, it should be respected and implemented.
