ICC seeks arrest warrants against Israeli PM Netanyahu, defense minister and Hamas leaders for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
The International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor's office has announced it is seeking arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, and three top Hamas militants for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Gaza.
In a statement on Monday, ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan said evidence has been collected incriminating Hamas leaders Yahya Sinwar, Mohammed Diab Ibrahim Al-Masri, and Ismail Haniyeh for at least eight offenses, including extermination, murder as crimes against humanity, and war crimes on Israeli and Palestinian territories from October 7, 2023 onwards.
The prosecutor's office also stated it has evidence that Israeli authorities, including Netanyahu and Gallant, committed at least eight war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza from October 8, 2023. Specific charges were not detailed.
The move has sparked outrage from both Israeli officials and Hamas. A senior Hamas official, Sami Abu Zuhri, accused the ICC of equating "the victim with the executioner" and giving Israel encouragement for its "war of extermination" in Gaza.
Meanwhile, Israeli minister Benny Gantz denounced the ICC's pursuit of arrest warrants against Netanyahu and Gallant as a "crime of historic proportion" and a "deep distortion of justice" by drawing parallels between Israeli leaders and the "bloodthirsty terror organization Hamas." In April 2023, Netanyahu had warned that any ICC arrest warrants for Israeli officials over the Hamas conflict would be a "scandal on a historic scale."
The potential arrests would mark a significant escalation in the ICC's lengthy investigation into alleged abuses during the 2014 Gaza war and 2018-2019 protests along the Gaza frontier. Both Israel and Hamas have denied wrongdoing, accusing the other of instigating the violence
