ICC seeks arrest warrants against Hamas chief, Israel PM for October 7 attack, Gaza assault

The prosecutor for the International Criminal Court (ICC) Karim Khan, said on Monday that the court is requesting arrest warrants for Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity related to the October 7 attacks on Israel and the ensuing war in Gaza.

According to Khan, the ICC is also requesting warrants for Israel’s Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and two other prominent Hamas figures: Ismail Haniyeh, the political head of Hamas, and Mohammed Diab Ibrahim al-Masri, the commander of the Al Qassem Brigades and popularly known as Mohammed Deif.

The top official of a close ally of the United States is being targeted by the ICC for the first time with the warrants against the Israeli lawmakers. With this decision, Netanyahu joins the ranks of Russian President Vladimir Putin, for whom the International Criminal Court (ICC) has issued an arrest warrant due to Moscow’s war on Ukraine, and Libyan strongman Moammar Gadhafi, who at the time of his capture and assassination in October 2011 was the subject of an arrest warrant issued by the ICC for alleged crimes against humanity.

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Khan has now requested the arrest warrants, and a panel of judges from the ICC will review his request.

“Extermination, murder, taking of hostages, rape and sexual assault in detention,” according to Khan, are among the charges brought against Sinwar, Haniyeh, and al-Masri.

Khan’s office runs the risk of drawing criticism for putting an elected government and a terrorist group on equal footing by requesting arrest warrants for both Israeli and Hamas officials in the same action.

“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,” Khan told CNN.

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“Creating extermination, causing starvation as a method of war, including the denial of humanitarian relief supplies, and deliberately targeting civilians in conflict” are among the accusations made against Netanyahu and Gallant, Khan said.

“They are 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,” he said, expressing Israel’s disagreement with the ICC.

The United States and Israel are not ICC members. Nevertheless, the International Criminal Court (ICC) asserts its authority over Gaza, East Jerusalem, and the West Bank following the formal 2015 agreement by Palestinian authorities to be bound by the fundamental rules of the court.

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) is presently hearing a case related to South Africa’s claim that Israel was committing genocide in its war against Hamas after the October 7 assaults; this announcement made by the ICC on Monday is unrelated to that case.

While the ICC is a criminal court that brings proceedings against people for war crimes or crimes against humanity, the ICJ handles cases involving countries and nations.

This is not the first time the ICC has taken action against Israel, as was announced on Monday. Khan’s office began looking into potential crimes that may have been perpetrated in Gaza and the West Bank since June 2014 in March 2021.

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) is presently hearing a case related to South Africa’s claim that Israel was committing genocide in its war against Hamas after the October 7 assaults; this announcement made by the ICC on Monday is unrelated to that case.

While the ICC is a criminal court that brings proceedings against people for war crimes or crimes against humanity, the ICJ handles cases involving countries and nations.

This is not the first time the ICC has taken action against Israel, as was announced on Monday. Khan’s office began looking into potential crimes that may have been perpetrated in Gaza and the West Bank since June 2014 in March 2021.

The ICC was established by a treaty known as the Rome Statute that was initially presented before the United Nations. It is based in The Hague, Netherlands, and runs on its own. The treaty is ratified by the majority of nations (124), with significant outliers being the US, Russia, and Israel.

This implies that any member nation would be required to apprehend the five men and arrange for their extradition to The Hague in the event that the court accepts Khan’s motion and issues arrest warrants for them.

All parties to the Rome Statute are required by court regulations to fully cooperate with the court’s decisions. Due to this, traveling abroad would be very difficult for Netanyahu and Gallant, especially to many of Israel’s closest friends, such as Germany.