ICC chief prosecutor Karim AA Khan released a statement on Monday 20 May saying he has requested warrants for the arrest of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Minister of Defence Yoav Gallant.
Khan said he has “reasonable evidence to believe” Netanyahu and Gallant “bear criminal responsibility” for alleged war crimes committed during Israel’s military assault on Gaza.
#ICC Prosecutor @KarimKhanQC announces applications for arrest warrants in relation to Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant in the context of the situation in the State of #Palestine ⤵️https://t.co/WqDZecXFZq pic.twitter.com/bxqLWc5M6u
— Int’l Criminal Court (@IntlCrimCourt) May 20, 2024
The application also seeks arrest warrants for Hamas leader in Gaza Yahya Sinwar, Political Bureau head Ismail Haniyeh, and the military wing’s Commander-in-Chief Mohammed Diab Ibrahim Al-Masri.
An independent panel of international law experts support Khan’s request.
The panel includes British human rights lawyer Amal Clooney and American-Israeli judge Theodor Meron, a Holocaust survivor who previously served as president for the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.
Israeli and Hamas officials have both condemned the announcement and denied the allegations of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Hamas senior official Sami Abu Zuhri told Reuters the decision “equates the victim with the executioner” and encourages Israel to continue its “war of extermination” in Gaza.
Netanyahu said the ICC “will not deter us” and Israel “will continue in the war until the hostages are released and Hamas is destroyed” at a Likud party parliamentary meeting.
The ongoing war in Gaza has killed 1,139 Israelis and at least 35,562 Palestinians, including more than 15,000 children, and injured 79,652 more.
According to the United Nations, about 80 percent of Gaza’s population has been displaced and hundreds of thousands of people are near starvation.
