The ICC prosecutor seeks arrest warrants for Israeli and Hamas leaders, including Netanyahu

Karim Khan, the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, announced Monday that he is seeking arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, and three Hamas leaders — Yehia Sinwar, Mohammed Deif and Ismail Haniyeh —  for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity.

“Now, more than ever, we must collectively demonstrate that international humanitarian law, the foundational baseline for human conduct during conflict, applies to all individuals and applies equally across the situations addressed by my Office and the Court,” ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan said in a Monday statement. “This is how we will prove, tangibly, that the lives of all human beings have equal value.”

The charges against Netanyahu and Gallant involve extermination, causing starvation as a method of war and deliberately targeting civilians

Karim Khan stated that “I have reasonable grounds to believe that Benjamin NETANYAHU, the Prime Minister of Israel, and Yoav GALLANT, the Minister of Defence of Israel, bear criminal responsibility for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed on the territory of the State of Palestine (in the Gaza strip) from at least 8 October 2023”

These crimes involve, causing extermination, causing starvation as a method of war including the denial of humanitarian aid supplies, deliberately targeting civilians in conflict, Persecution and other inhumane acts as crimes against humanity. 

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“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.” Khan added.

Referencing the warrant application, Israeli war cabinet minister Benny Gantz on Monday said that “accepting the prosecutor’s position, would be a historical crime that will not go away”, adding that it places “the leaders of a country that went into battle to protect its citizens, in the same line with bloodthirsty terrorists.”

The charges against Sinwar, Haniyeh, and al-Masri include extermination, murder, taking of hostages, and sexual assault in detention

Khan stated that the charges against Sinwar, Haniyeh and al-Masri include “extermination, murder, taking of hostages, rape and sexual assault in detention.” He added that his team has a “variety of evidence” to support the application for arrest warrants against the Hamas leaders, including authenticated video footage and photographs from the attacks as well as evidence from eyewitnesses and survivors.

“The Hamas movement strongly denounces the attempts of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court to equate the victim with the executioner by issuing arrest warrants against a number of Palestinian resistance leaders without a legal basis, in violation of international conventions,” Hamas’s official stated in a statement.

Over 1,200 people have been killed in Israel since October, according to Israel’s prime minister’s office, while the Palestinian Health Ministry indicated over 35,000 people were killed in the Gaza Strip during that period.