ICC issues arrest warrant for Netanyahu, Gallant for ‘war crimes’ in Gaza

Netanyahu and Gallant were accused of “crimes against humanity and war crimes committed from at least October 8, 2023 until at least May 20, 2024”, a statement from the court said on Thursday.

There are “reasonable grounds” to believe that Gallant and Netanyahu “intentionally and knowingly deprived the civilian population in Gaza of objects indispensable to their survival, including food, water, and medicine and medical supplies, as well as fuel and electricity”, it added.

Netanyahu’s office announced in a statement that “Israel rejects with disgust the absurd and false actions leveled against it by ICC”, adding that Israel won’t “give in to pressure” in the defence of its citizens.

The court also decided “unanimously” to issue an arrest warrant for Hamas’s military commander Mohammed al-Masri, known as Mohammed Deif, “for alleged crimes against humanity and war crimes committed” in from October 7, 2023.

It accused him of crimes including murder, torture, rape and other forms of sexual violence.

Israel claims to have killed Deif in an air attack in southern Gaza in July. But the court decided to proceed with the warrant, saying it was “not in a position to determine whether [he] has been killed or remains alive”.

ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan had applied for arrest warrants against the Israeli officials and three Hamas leaders in May for alleged crimes committed during the Hamas-led October 7, 2023 attack on southern Israel and Tel Aviv’s subsequent war on Gaza.

ICC prosecutors announced there were reasonable grounds to believe Netanyahu and Gallant – as well as Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, the group’s political chief Ismail Haniyeh and Deif – bear criminal responsibility for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Haniyeh was assassinated in Iran in July. Sinwar was killed in combat with the Israeli military in October.

Netanyahu fired Gallant earlier this month, saying he had lost confidence in him over the management of Israel’s wars in Gaza and Lebanon.

Israel is not a member of the ICC and Netanyahu has previously called the prosecutor’s accusations against him a “disgrace”, an attack on the Israeli military and all of Israel.

But the ICC announced on Thursday that it had unanimously decided to reject Israel’s appeal over the court’s jurisdiction.

Gaza’s Ministry of Health reported on Thursday that Israel’s war in the besieged enclave has killed at least 44,056 Palestinians and wounded 104,286 since early October last year.

An estimated 1,200 people were killed in Israel during the Hamas-led attacks that day, and nearly 250 were taken captive.