ICC prosecutor says arrest warrants must be issued for PM, Gallant with ‘utmost urgency’

International Criminal Court (ICC) Prosecutor Karim Khan calls on the Pre-Trial Chamber of the court to issue the arrest warrants he seeks for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, and Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar “with utmost urgency.”

Khan, who filed his request for warrants in May, says the warrants are needed due to the “ongoing criminality” he alleged in his initial request and to what he said was the “worsening situation in Palestine.”

Khan writes in his submission to Pre-Trial Chamber I that the arrest warrants are necessary to ensure that the targets of the warrants “do not obstruct or endanger the investigation or court proceedings, prevent the continuing commission of the crimes alleged and/or the commission of other Rome Statute crimes.”

The prosecutor requests to have the arrest warrant against for Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh withdrawn following his assassination in Tehran in July.

But he does not withdraw his request for an arrest warrant for Mohammed Deif, another senior Hamas leader who Israel believes it assassinated in July, saying the prosecution is still gathering information about “his reported death.”

Khan requested arrest warrants against the Israeli and Hamas leaders in May on charges of crimes against humanity and war crimes for the October 7 atrocities committed by Hamas, and Israel’s military policies in its subsequent war against the terror group.

In July, the ICC’s Pre-Trial Chamber I allowed other parties to submit amicus briefs on the case, including regarding the court’s jurisdiction over Israeli nationals, which has significantly delayed a decision.