The International Criminal Court’s prosecutor has requested arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and his defence chief.
ICC prosecutor Karim Khan said he had applied for an arrest warrant for Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant as well as for Netanyahu. They have overseen Israel’s war against Islamic terror group Hamas in Gaza since the terror group’s deadly October 7 attack on Israel.
He has also requested arrest warrants for Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar; Mohammed Al-Masri, the commander-in-chief of the military wing of Hamas who is widely known as Deif; and Ismail Haniyeh, head of Hamas’ Political Bureau.
Khan said in a statement that he had reasonable grounds to believe the five men “bear criminal responsibility” for alleged “war crimes” and “crimes against humanity”.
A panel of pre-trial judges will determine whether the evidence supports the arrest warrants. But the court has no means to enforce such warrants, and its investigation into the Gaza war has been opposed by the United States and Israel.
Israel has dismissed allegations of war crimes. “I reject with disgust the comparison of the prosecutor in the Hague between democratic Israel and the mass murderers of Hamas,” Netanyahu said, calling the move a “complete distortion of reality.”
