ICC drops case against ex-Hamas chief Haniyeh after he was killed in July
Court still seeking to prosecute Netanyahu, Gallant and Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar for alleged war crimes during Israel-Hamas war
The International Criminal Court on Friday dropped its case against former Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, who was killed in Iran on July 31 in an attack blamed on Israel.
ICC prosecutor Karim Khan had requested the court issue an arrest warrant for Haniyeh, along with other top Hamas officials, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.
But Khan dropped the application for Haniyeh on August 2 “because of the changed circumstances caused by Mr. Haniyeh’s death,” the ICC said in a statement.
“As a result, [the court] terminates the proceedings against Mr. Ismail Haniyeh,” the statement added.
Israel has neither confirmed nor denied killing the Hamas leader.
The court is still weighing Khan’s application for an arrest warrant for Netanyahu and Gallant.
Khan also sought warrants for Hamas Gaza leader Yahya Sinwar, named by Hamas to replace Haniyeh, and military wing chief Mohammed Deif.
Deif was killed by a strike on July 13 in southern Gaza, according to Israel.
Khan charged Netanyahu and Gallant of war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza, including “starvation of civilians,” “extermination,” and “intentionally directing attacks against a civilian population.”
The three Hamas leaders were charged with war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza, and Israel including extermination, murder, hostage-taking, rape, and sexual assault for their planning of the attacks on October 7 when Hamas terrorists invaded southern Israel, killing some 1,200 people, most of them civilians and taking 251 hostages.
Israel strongly rejects Khan’s accusations — which include charges of using starvation as a method of war — by pointing to the relatively low civilian-to-combatant ratio among the casualties in Gaza, the terror group’s use of civilians as human shields, and highlighting its efforts to expand humanitarian aid into the enclave, despite regular looting by gangs and terror groups.
Netanyahu called the prosecutor’s accusations against him a “disgrace,” and an attack on the Israeli military and all of Israel. He vowed to press ahead with Israel’s war against Hamas, with the aim of destroying the Gaza-ruling terrorist organization and returning the remaining hostages in Gaza. Hamas also denounced Khan’s actions, characterizing the request to arrest its leaders as equating “the victim with the executioner.”
Israel is not a member of the court, so even if the arrest warrants are issued, Netanyahu and Gallant do not face any immediate risk of prosecution. But the threat of arrest could make it difficult for the Israeli leaders to travel abroad.
In response to the Hamas assault, Israel launched an offensive that the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza reports has killed over 40,000 people, an unverified figure that doesn’t differentiate between civilians and combatants. Israel says it has killed some 17,000 combatants in battle and another 1,000 terrorists inside Israel on October 7.
