International Criminal Court seeks arrest warrants for Benjamin Netanyahu and Hamas leaders on charges of war crimes
20 May 2024, 12:43 | Updated: 20 May 2024, 12:58
The International Criminal Court has said it is seeking arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Hamas leaders on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
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The charges related to Hamas' October 7 attacks on Israel and the subsequent war in Gaza, the ICC's chief prosecutor Karim Khan told CNN.
Khan said the ICC is seeking warrants for Netanyahu, Israel’s Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, the group's military leader Mohammed Diab Ibrahim al-Masri, and chief of its political bureau Ismail Haniyeh.
ICC judges will now consider the evidence collected in the application made by Khan.
The charges against the Hamas leaders include "extermination, murder, taking of hostages, rape and sexual assault in detention".
The charges against Netanyahu and Gallant, meanwhile, include "starvation of civilians as a method of warfare", "wilfully causing great suffering", and "intentionally directing attacks against a civilian population".
Speaking to CNN, Khan said: “The world was shocked on the 7th of October when people were ripped from their bedrooms, from their homes, from the different kibbutzim in Israel."
This is the first time the ICC has targeted the leader of a key ally of the United States.
As the leader of a nation, a warrant would put Netanyahu alongside Vladimir Putin after a warrant was issued for the Russian president's arrest following the invasion of Ukraine.
Reports that the ICC would issue an arrest warrant for Netanyahu have been surfacing for months.
Commenting on the possibility in April, Netanyahu said any ICC arrest warrants against senior Israeli government and military officials “would be an outrage of historic proportions.”
He said Israel “has an independent legal system that rigorously investigates all violations of the law.”
Khan reiterated in his interview with CNN today: “Nobody is above the law” and said anyone with objections is "free, notwithstanding their objections to jurisdiction, to raise a challenge before the judges of the court and that’s what I advise them to do.”
Israel, alongside the United States, is not a member of the ICC, but the international body does claim to have jurisdiction over Gaza, east Jerusalem and the West Bank.
