The International Criminal Court (ICC) has issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and Hamas official Mohammed Diab Ibrahim Al-Masri amid the conflict in Gaza.
In its statement, the court said it had “reasonable grounds” to believe that Netanyahu and Gallant oversaw attacks on the civilian population in Gaza, and that they were also alleged to have used starvation as an instrument of war.
It said that Israel’s acceptance of the court’s jurisdiction was not required.
Israel is not a member of the court, seated in The Hague in the Netherlands.
The ICC said Netanyahu and his former defense minister “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.”
The statement was issued by a three-judge panel as it unanimously decided to issue arrest warrants for Netanyahu, Yoav Gallant and Hamas officials.
They have all been accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity in connection with the war in Gaza, which was triggered by the October 7, 2023, attacks by Hamas in southern Israel that killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians.
The arrest warrants turn Netanyahu and the others into internationally wanted suspects, but none of them is likely to come before the court soon. The ICC relies on cooperation from its member states — which include neither Israel nor its ally, the United States — to bring people to face trial.
The ICC prosecutes cases only when law enforcement authorities in a country cannot or will not do so themselves.
This article was originally published on DW.
