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Judges at the International Criminal Court (ICC) have issued arrest warrants for Israel\u2019s prime minister and former defence minister, as well as Hamas’s military commander.<\/p>\n
A statement said a pre-trial chamber had rejected Israel\u2019s challenges to the court\u2019s jurisdiction and issued warrants for Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant.<\/p>\n
A warrant was also issued for Mohammed Deif, although the Israeli military has said he was killed in an air strike in Gaza in July.<\/p>\n
The judges said there were \u201creasonable grounds\u201d the three men bore “criminal responsibility” for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity during the war between Israel and Hamas. Both Israel and Hamas have rejected the allegations.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
It will now be up to the ICC’s 124 member states – which do not include Israel or its ally, the United States – to decide whether or not to enforce the warrants.<\/p>\n
In May, the ICC prosecutor Karim Khan sought warrants for Netanyahu, Gallant, Deif and two other Hamas leaders who have since been killed, Ismail Haniyeh and Yahya Sinwar.<\/p>\n
Although Israel believes Deif is dead, the chamber said it had been notified by the ICC prosecution that it was not in a position to determine whether he was killed or remained alive.<\/p>\n
The prosecutor’s case against them stems from the events of 7 October 2023, when Hamas gunmen attacked southern Israel, killing about 1,200 people and taking 251 others back to Gaza as hostages.<\/p>\n
Israel responded to the attack by launching a military campaign to eliminate Hamas, during which at least 44,000 people have been killed in Gaza, according to the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry.<\/p>\n
According to the ICC, the chamber \u201cfound reasonable grounds to believe\u201d that Deif was \u201cresponsible for the crimes against humanity of murder; extermination; torture; and rape and other form of sexual violence; as well as the war crimes of murder, cruel treatment, torture; taking hostages; outrages upon personal dignity; and rape and other form of sexual violence\u201d.<\/p>\n
It also said there were reasonable grounds to believe the crimes against humanity were \u201cpart of a widespread and systematic attack directed by Hamas and other armed groups against the civilian population of Israel\u201d.<\/p>\n
For Netanyahu and Gallant, who was replaced as defence minister earlier this month, the chamber \u201cfound reasonable grounds to believe\u201d that they \u201ceach bear criminal responsibility for the following crimes as co-perpetrators for committing the acts jointly with others: the war crime of starvation as a method of warfare; and the crimes against humanity of murder, persecution, and other inhumane acts\u201d.<\/p>\n
It also found reasonable grounds to believe that \u201ceach bear criminal responsibility as civilian superiors for the war crime of intentionally directing an attack against the civilian population\u201d.<\/p>\n
There was no immediate comment from Netanyahu, Gallant or Hamas.<\/p>\n
Israeli President Isaac Herzog said: \u201cTaken in bad faith, the outrageous decision at the ICC has turned universal justice into a universal laughing stock.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe decision has chosen the side of terror and evil over democracy and freedom, and turned the very system of justice into a human shield for Hamas\u2019 crimes against humanity,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
Mustafa Barghouti, a veteran Palestinian politician based in the occupied West Bank, welcomed the warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe also call on the International Court of Justice to expedite its ruling on Israel committing the crime of genocide,\u201d he added, referring to a separate case currently being considered by the UN\u2019s top court.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n