In two legal briefs filed on Friday, Tel Aviv announced it is challenging both the legality of the International Criminal Court’s request for arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, as well as the court's jurisdiction. The death toll from Israel's onslaught against Palestinians in Gaza has reached 41,300.
In May, the court’s prosecutor, Karim Khan, announced he is seeking arrest warrants for the two Israeli officials as well as three members of Hamas leadership: Yahya Sinwar, Mohammed Deif, and Ismail Haniyeh.
Haniyeh has since been assassinated in Iran in an operation that Israel has not confirmed or denied, and the ICC has ended its court proceedings against him. And while Israel says it has killed Deif, Hamas has yet to confirm his demise. The ICC is seeking confirmation on the death to end their court proceedings.
Khan’s request for the warrants is based on what he believes are war crimes and crimes against humanity perpetrated from 7 Oct 2023 onwards, after the Hamas-led attacks on southern Israel and the subsequent war on Gaza.
In a statement, Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesperson Oren Marmorstein said his government is challenging the complementarity principle, a premise of international law that is fundamental to the functions of the ICC.
It stems from Article 17 of the Rome Statute, which founded the ICC in 2002.
The court is obliged to step in and exercise its jurisdiction when states are deemed “unwilling” or “unable” to do so.
“Israel detailed the ICC prosecutor’s wrongful breach of the Court’s Statute and the principle of complementarity, in failing to provide Israel with the opportunity to exercise its right to investigate by itself the claims raised by the prosecutor before proceeding,” Marmorstein added.
Khan has urged the court to issue the warrants “with the utmost urgency”. It is unclear why they have not yet been produced.
Should they materialise, this would be the first time the ICC is pursuing western-backed officials.
“No other democracy with an independent and respected legal system like that which exists in Israel has been treated in this prejudicial manner by the Prosecutor,” Marmorstein stated on Friday.
“Nevertheless, Israel remains steadfast in its commitment to the rule of law and justice, and will continue to protect its citizens against the ongoing attacks and atrocities by Hamas and other Iranian-backed terrorist proxies in the region.”
Israel has continued a brutal offensive on Gaza following a cross-border attack by the Palestinian group Hamas on Oct. 7 last year, despite a UN Security Council resolution calling for an immediate cease-fire.
Nearly 41,300 people, mostly women and children, have since been killed and more than 95,500 injured, according to local health authorities.
The Israeli onslaught has displaced almost the entire population of the territory amid an ongoing blockade that has led to severe shortages of food, clean water and medicine.
Israel faces accusations of genocide at the International Court of Justice for its actions in Gaza.
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