ICC prosecutor seeks arrest warrants for Netanyahu, Gallant and 3 Hamas leaders
Karim Khan accuses both Israeli and Hamas leaders of ‘extermination,’ says Israeli crimes ‘continuing to this day’; Israel, Hamas both decry being equated with one another
In an unprecedented and hugely controversial development, the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Karim Khan, said Monday that he had requested arrest warrants from the court’s judges for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, along with top Hamas leaders.
Khan said that the charges against Israel’s premier and defense chief are for the crimes of “causing extermination, causing starvation as a method of war including the denial of humanitarian relief supplies, deliberately targeting civilians in conflict.”
“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,” said Khan in reference to Netanyahu and Gallant.
Khan said he was also applying for arrest warrants against Yahya Sinwar, Hamas’s ruler in Gaza; the terror group’s military chief, Mohammed Deif; and the leader of the organization, Ismail Haniyeh.
“Today we have applied for warrants to the pretrial chamber of the International Criminal Court in relation to three individuals who are Hamas members,” Khan said, listing Sinwar, Deif, and Haniyeh.
He said they would be charged with extermination, murder, hostage-taking, rape, and sexual assault.
“We submit that the crimes against humanity charged were part of a widespread and systematic attack against the civilian population of Israel by Hamas and other armed groups pursuant to organizational policies,” said the statement.
It will be up to the court’s pre-trial judges to determine whether there is sufficient evidence to issue warrants.
Israel is not a member of the court, and even if the arrest warrants are issued, Netanyahu and Gallant do not face any immediate risk of prosecution. But Khan’s announcement deepens Israel’s isolation as it presses ahead with its war, and the threat of arrest could make it difficult for the Israeli leaders to travel abroad.
Israel says its offensive in Gaza is aimed at eliminating Hamas and the high civilian toll is due to the terror group’s use of civilians as human shields. Israel has highlighted its efforts to expand humanitarian aid to Gaza and blames the humanitarian crisis on aid agencies failing to properly distribute supplies and on looting of aid trucks by terror groups and gangs.
The government was said to have anticipated the ICC prosecutor’s move last month and to have held emergency meetings to decide how to fend off the potential warrants.
Both Sinwar and Deif are believed to be hiding in Gaza as Israel tries to hunt them down. But Haniyeh is based in Qatar and frequently travels across the region.
The ICC’s decision “equates the victim with the executioner,” senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri told Reuters, alleging that it encourages Israel to continue its “war of extermination” in Gaza.
War cabinet minister Benny Gantz slammed the decision, saying that Israel’s military is complying with international law in its fighting in Gaza and terming the decision “a crime of historic proportions.”
“The State of Israel is waging one of the just wars fought in modern history following a reprehensible massacre perpetrated by terrorist Hamas on the 7th of October,” he said in a statement.
“While Israel fights with one of the strictest moral codes in history, while complying with international law and boasting a robust independent judiciary – drawing parallels between the leaders of a democratic country determined to defend itself from despicable terror to leaders of a bloodthirsty terror organization is a deep distortion of justice and blatant moral bankruptcy,” Gantz said.
“The prosecutor’s position to apply for arrest warrants is in itself a crime of historic proportions to be remembered for generations,” he added.
Opposition Leader Yair Lapid blasted the move. “It is not possible to issue arrest warrants against Netanyahu, Sinwar and Deif. There is no such comparison, we cannot accept it and it is unforgivable,” he said, calling the decision “a terrible political failure.”
“I expect the American administration to condemn the arrest warrants. I believe they will stand behind us,” Lapid added.
Khan visited Israel in December on an official trip. After touring some of the towns attacked by Hamas on October 7, 2023, and hearing testimonies from survivors, he said he had witnessed “scenes of calculated cruelty” and that it was clear to him the victims had been targeted because of their identities.
He also said he felt duty-bound to work with the court’s prosecutors to open investigations into Hamas’s actions on October 7.
In 2019, the ICC announced that it would be launching a probe into alleged war crimes committed by both sides during the 2014 Israel-Hamas conflict, Israeli settlement policy and the Israeli response to protests at the Gaza border. The probe was formally opened on March 3, 2021, and was met with strong criticism from Israel.
During Hamas’s October 7 onslaught on southern Israel, terrorists killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and kidnapped 252 men, women, and children of all ages.
The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry says more than 35,000 people in the Strip have been killed or are presumed dead in the fighting so far, though only some 24,000 fatalities have been identified at hospitals.
The tolls, which cannot be verified, include some 15,000 terror operatives Israel says it has killed in battle. Israel also says it killed some 1,000 terrorists inside Israel on October 7.
Two hundred and eighty-three Israeli soldiers have been killed during the ground offensive against Hamas and amid operations along the Gaza border. A civilian Defense Ministry contractor has also been killed in the Strip.
