ICC seeks warrants against Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu and Hamas leaders: Will they be arrested now?

It’s been nearly 230 days of the Israel-Hamas war, which is battled in the Gaza Strip. As this long war continues to progress, the Benjamin Netanyahu-led government has been accused of carrying out disproportionate action in the Gaza region, killing thousands and thousands of innocents. Some even dubbing Israel’s actions as war crimes.

And on Monday (20 May), the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) prosecution office applied for arrest warrants for top Hamas and Israeli figures on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity over the 7 October attacks on Israel and the subsequent war in Gaza.

In a statement, the ICC’s chief prosecutor said that he was “filing applications for the warrants of arrests” for Benjamin Netanyahu, Yoav Gallant, Yahya Sinwar and other senior Israeli and Hamas figures who have played key roles in the ongoing war in Gaza.

More from Explainers

Trump-Putin summit: Why Russia sold Alaska to the US in 1867 Is Canada making Express Entry easier for some professions? Will it benefit Indians? 

The ICC prosecution office’s decision has been denounced by Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his ally, US president Joe Biden. In fact, the US president said: “We reject the ICC’s application for arrest warrants against Israeli leaders.”

But what exactly are ICC warrants? And what happens if they are granted?

What warrants?

On Monday, ICC’s Karim Khan said that he had requested for arrest warrants for Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, his defence chief and three Hamas leaders over alleged war crimes. In a statement, he added that after more than seven months of war in Gaza, he had reasonable grounds to believe the five men “bear criminal responsibility” for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Impact Shorts

View All

'My god, what have we done': The 2 US pilots who dropped atomic bombs on Japan's Hiroshima and Nagasaki

US is making it tougher to obtain green card for married couples. Here’s why

He has requested for arrest warrants against five leaders.

They are: Israel prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his Defence Minister Yoav Gallant. “We submit that the crimes against humanity charged were committed as part of a widespread and systematic attack against the Palestinian civilian population pursuant to State policy. These crimes, in our assessment, continue to this day,” said Khan in reference to Netanyahu and Gallant.

And from the Hamas, he has sought warrants against its 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. In his statement, he said: “We submit that the crimes against humanity charged were part of a widespread and systematic attack against the civilian population of Israel by Hamas and other armed groups pursuant to organisational policies.”

It has been reported that Amal Clooney, the reputed high-profile British-Lebanese barrister, helped the ICC weigh evidence that led to the decision to seek arrest warrants for top Israeli and Hamas leaders.

For the unaware, the ICC, established in 2002, is the permanent court of last resort to prosecute individuals responsible for the world’s most heinous atrocities — war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide and the crime of aggression. As of today, 124 countries are signatories to the Rome Statute, which created the ICC. This means that these countries accept the court’s jurisdiction. Interestingly, Israel, the United States, Russia and China are not signatories to the Rome Statute, meaning they don’t abide by the ICC’s jurisdiction.

How the world reacted?

Shortly after ICC’s Karim Khan sought the arrest warrants, countries across the world spoke up, including the US, Israel and even the Hamas leaders.

Hamas, on Monday, condemned the move, and said in a statement: “The Hamas movement strongly condemns the attempts of the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court to equate the victim with the executioner by issuing arrest warrants against a number of Palestinian resistance leaders.”

Meanwhile, Israel too denounced the move, calling it a “historical disgrace”. Israel’s foreign minister Israel Katz said that Khan “in the same breath mentions the prime minister and the minister of defence of Israel alongside the abominable Nazi monsters of Hamas — a historical disgrace that will be remembered forever”.

He further denounced the move as a “scandalous decision” that amounted to “a frontal attack… on the victims of 7 October” when Hamas launched their attack on Israel, sparking the Gaza war. The minister added that Israel would establish a special committee to fight the ICC prosecutor’s efforts to secure a warrant, and also embark on a diplomatic push against it.

Israeli President Isaac Herzog criticised Khan’s step as an example of how the “international judicial system is in danger of collapsing”. “Any attempt to draw parallels between these atrocious terrorists and a democratically elected government of Israel… is outrageous and cannot be accepted by anyone.”

Prime Minister Netanyahu himself slammed the request of the arrest warrant, saying, “With what audacity do you dare compare the monsters of Hamas to the soldiers of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), the most moral army in the world.

“With what audacity do you compare between the Hamas that murdered, burned, butchered, raped, and kidnapped our brothers and sisters, and the IDF soldiers who are fighting a just war that is unparalleled in morality that is unmatched,” he said in a statement.

Meanwhile, countries such as France and South Africa supported the ICC. On the other hand, the US rejected the move. President Joe Biden said, “Let me be clear: whatever this prosecutor might imply, there is no equivalence — none — between Israel and Hamas.” And this was echoed by US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, who was quoted as saying: “It is shameful. Hamas is a brutal terrorist organisation that carried out the worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust, and it still holding dozens of people hostage, including Americans.”

Will arrest warrants now be issued?

Not necessarily. Khan’s request will now go to one of the pre-trial chambers in the ICC where a panel of three judges will decide if there’s enough grounds to issue these arrest warrants. Currently, the chamber consists of presiding judge Iulia Motoc of Romania, Mexican judge Maria del Socorro Flores Liera and judge Reine Alapini-Gansou of Benin.

According to Reuters, there is no deadline for judges to decide whether to issue arrest warrants. In previous cases, judges have taken anywhere from just over a month to several months.

If the judges do find grounds that war crimes or crimes against humanity have been committed, they will issue the warrant.

Iva Vukušić, an expert on international legal institutions at the Utrecht University, in the Netherlands, told The Guardian: “The prosecution is not dumb; they would not mess up at this stage at such an important case everyone is looking at. So I believe the judges will agree on the warrants.”

Will Netanyahu and the others be immediately arrested?

No. The ICC doesn’t have its own police force to arrest or carry out other actions. It depends on member countries to do so. This means that if warrants are issued against Netanyahu, his defence minister and the Hamas leaders, their travel would be severely curtailed. The 124 state members of the ICC would be under obligation to arrest them.

However, non-members such as the US, Russia, China would not be bound to arrest them. For instance, Netanyahu and Gallant would be able to visit America. And Haniyeh, who is believed to be in Qatar, would also face no problem, as Doha is not a member of the ICC.

However, experts note that even if warrants are issued, the court has no means to enforce the arrest. A Reuters report points out that if a member-country doesn’t abide by the ICC, it is referred back to the ICC’s assembly of member states and ultimately a referral to the UN Security Council.

While, it is unknown if the arrest warrants are issued and if they are actually implemented, one thing is certain: if the ICC does, in fact, issue these warrants, it will be a significant moment. This is because it will be first time it would have sought to hold a close ally of the west, and of the US in particular, responsible since its foundation.

In the past, the ICC has been slammed for not holding the Western countries accountable. As The Guardian notes, Khan’s application is in direct defiance of Washington, which had lobbied him heavily not to proceed.

Has the ICC issued warrants for other world leaders?

As per records, the ICC has issued 46 arrest warrants so far and detained 21 people in its detention centre. Most recently, the court in 2023 issued a warrant for Russian president Vladimir Putin on charges of responsibility for the abductions of children from Ukraine.

Other high-profile leaders charged by the court are Sudanese strongman Omar al-Bashir on allegations including genocide in his country’s Darfur region. Former Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi was captured and killed by rebels shortly after the ICC issued a warrant for his arrest on charges linked to the brutal suppression of anti-government protests in 2011.

With inputs from agencies