ICC seeking arrest warrants against Netanyahu and top Hamas leaders over alleged war crimes

The chief prosecutor at the International Criminal Court (ICC) is seeking arrest warrants against the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and several Hamas leaders.

ICC Prosecutor Karim A.A. Khan KC issued a statement this morning proposing that arrest warrants are issued for Mr Netanyahu, Israel’s defence minister Yoav Gallant, Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, Mohammed Diab Ibrahim Al-Masri, Hamas’ military chief, and Ismail Haniyeh, head of Hamas’ political bureau.

The charges against Netanyahu and Gallant include “starvation of civilians as a method of warfare … intentionally directing attacks against a civilian population … wilfully causing great suffering … persecution as a crime against humanity … [and] extermination and/or murder.”

A panel of ICC judges will now consider Khan’s application for the arrest warrants.

If the panel deems it fit to issue the arrests, Netanyahu would be in the same company as Russian President Vladimir Putin, who the ICC issued an arrest warrant for over his full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

“Israel, like all States, has a right to take action to defend its population,” Mr Khan’s statement read. “That right, however, does not absolve Israel or any State of its obligation to comply with international humanitarian law.

“Notwithstanding any military goals they may have, the means Israel chose to achieve them in Gaza – namely, intentionally causing death, starvation, great suffering, and serious injury to body or health of the civilian population – are criminal.”

More follows…