The International Criminal Court (ICC) in the Hague have issued arrest warrants for Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defence Minister, Yoav Gallant, in addition to a Hamas leader, Ibrahim Al-Masri, alleging war crimes and crimes against humanity against all parties.
Israel has rejected the jurisdiction of the ICC and denies war crimes in Gaza, but the court said that Israel’s acceptance of the court’s jurisdiction was not required for the warrants to be issued.
The judges in Pre-Trial Chamber I of the ICC said today that: “At the outset, the Chamber considered that the alleged conduct of Mr Netanyahu and Mr Gallant falls within the jurisdiction of the Court.”
“The Chamber recalled that, in a previous composition, it already decided that the Court’s jurisdiction in the situation extended to Gaza and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem.”
The judges said they found reasonable grounds to believe that Mr Netanyahu, as Prime Minister of Israel – and Mr Gallant, Minister of Defence of Israel at the time of the alleged conduct – “each 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.”
“The Chamber also found reasonable grounds to believe that Mr Netanyahu and Mr Gallant each bear criminal responsibility as civilian superiors for the war crime of intentionally directing an attack against the civilian population,” they said.
Taoiseach Simon Harris said the decision by the ICC’s to issue the warrants indicated the that there are “reasonable grounds to believe that Mr Netanyahu and Mr Gallant each bear criminal responsibility for crimes perpetrated in the war in Gaza”.
Mr Netanyahu’s office rejected the court’s decision to issue arrest warrants against him and Mr Gallant, describing them as “anti-Semitic”.
“Israel rejects with disgust the absurd and false actions leveled against it by ICC,” his office said in a statement, adding Israel will not “give in to pressure” in the defence of its citizens.
The International Criminal Court is responsible for prosecuting individuals accused of the most heinous crimes.
In May, the chief prosecutor for the ICC, Karim Khan, requested arrest warrants for Hamas leaders, Mohammed Deif and Ismail Haniyeh on on suspicion of war crimes and crimes against humanity – with warrants also sought for Netanyahu and Gallant over alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
However, the application for Haniyeh was dropped on 2 August when he was assassinated on 31st July in Tehran. In relation to Deif, the chamber found reasonable grounds to believe that he was “responsible 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”.
It also said there were reasonable grounds to believe the crimes against humanity were “part of a widespread and systematic attack directed by Hamas and other armed groups against the civilian population of Israel”.
Benjamin Netanyahu sacked Gallant as defence minister on 5 November. Today, responding to the warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant, Israeli President Isaac Herzog said it was a a “dark day for humanity” and that universal justice had been turned into “a universal laughing stock”.
“It makes a mockery of the sacrifice of all those who fight for justice – from the Allied victory over the Nazis till today,” he wrote on X.
“Indeed, the 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’ crimes against humanity.”
Hamas said that the warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant, constituted “an important historical precedent, and a correction to a long path of historical injustice against our people”.
The ICC today said that: “the Chamber found reasonable grounds to believe that during the relevant time, international humanitarian law related to international armed conflict between Israel and Palestine applied. This is because they are two High Contracting Parties to the 1949 Geneva Conventions and because Israel occupies at least parts of Palestine. The Chamber also found that the law related to non-international armed conflict applied to the fighting between Israel and Hamas.”
“The Chamber found that the alleged conduct of Mr Netanyahu and Mr Gallant concerned the activities of Israeli government bodies and the armed forces against the civilian population in Palestine, more specifically civilians in Gaza. It therefore concerned the relationship between two parties to an international armed conflict, as well as the relationship between an occupying power and the population in occupied territory. For these reasons, with regards to war crimes, the Chamber found it appropriate to issue the arrest warrants pursuant to the law of international armed conflict.”
“The Chamber also found that the alleged crimes against humanity were part of a widespread and systematic attack against the civilian population of Gaza.”
“The Chamber considered that there are reasonable grounds to believe that both individuals 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, from at least 8 October 2023 to 20 May 2024. This finding is based on the role of Mr Netanyahu and Mr Gallant in impeding humanitarian aid in violation of international humanitarian law and their failure to facilitate relief by all means at its disposal.”
“The Chamber found that their conduct led to the disruption of the ability of humanitarian organisations to provide food and other essential goods to the population in need in Gaza. The aforementioned restrictions together with cutting off electricity and reducing fuel supply also had a severe impact on the availability of water in Gaza and the ability of hospitals to provide medical care.”
The judges said that there were “reasonable grounds to believe that Mr Netanyahu and Mr Gallant bear criminal responsibility for the war crime of starvation as a method of warfare”.
They said that “by intentionally limiting or preventing medical supplies and medicine from getting into Gaza, in particular anaesthetics and anaesthesia machines, the two individuals are also responsible for inflicting great suffering by means of inhumane acts on persons in need of treatment. Doctors were forced to operate on wounded persons and carry out amputations, including on children, without anaesthetics, and/or were forced to use inadequate and unsafe means to sedate patients, causing these persons extreme pain and suffering. This amounts to the crime against humanity of other inhumane acts.”