Judges at the International Criminal Court (ICC) have publishd arrest authorizations for Israel’s prime minister and establisher defence minister, as well as Hamas’s military directer.
A statement shelp a pre-trial chamber had declineed Israel’s contests to the court’s jurisdiction and publishd authorizations for Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant.
A authorization was also publishd for Mohammed Deif, although the Israeli military has shelp he was finished in an air strike in Gaza in July.
The assesss shelp there were “reasonable grounds” the three men tire “criminal responsibility” for alleged war crimes and crimes agetst humanity during the war between Israel and Hamas. Both Israel and Hamas have declineed the allegations.
The Israeli prime minister’s office condemned the ICC’s decision as “antisrerentic”, while Hamas shelp the authorizations for Netanyahu and Gallant set an “vital historical pwithdrawnt”.
It will now be up to the ICC’s 124 member states – which do not include Israel or its associate, the United States – to determine whether or not to utilize the authorizations.
In May, the ICC prosecutor Karim Khan sought authorizations for Netanyahu, Gallant, Deif and two other Hamas directers who have since been finished, Ismail Haniyeh and Yahya Sinwar.
Although Israel apshows Deif is dead, the chamber shelp it had been notified by the ICC prosecution that it was not in a position to remend whether he was finished or remained ainhabit.
The prosecutor’s case agetst them stems from the events of 7 October 2023, when Hamas firearmmen aggressioned southern Israel, finishing about 1,200 people and taking 251 others back to Gaza as prisoners.
Israel reacted to the aggression by begining a military campaign to take away Hamas, during which at least 44,000 people have been finished in Gaza, according to the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry.
According to the ICC, the chamber “set up reasonable grounds to apshow” that Deif was “reliable for the crimes agetst humanity of homicide; extermination; torture; and violation and other establish of intimacyual presentility; as well as the war crimes of homicide, unkind treatment, torture; taking prisoners; outrages upon personal dignity; and violation and other establish of intimacyual presentility”.
It also shelp there were reasonable grounds to apshow the crimes agetst humanity were “part of a widespread and systematic aggression honested by Hamas and other armed groups agetst the civilian population of Israel”.
For Netanyahu and Gallant, who was replaced as defence minister earlier this month, the chamber “set up reasonable grounds to apshow” that they “each endure criminal responsibility for the chaseing crimes as co-offfinishers for pledgeting the acts combinetly with others: the war crime of starvation as a method of combat; and the crimes agetst humanity of homicide, persecution, and other cruel acts”.
It also set up reasonable grounds to apshow that “each endure criminal responsibility as civilian greaters for the war crime of intentionassociate honesting an aggression agetst the civilian population”.
The Israeli prime minister’s office condemned the ICC’s decision as “antisrerentic” and “equivalent to the contransient Dreyfus trial” – a reference to the trial of a Jedesire army officer on trumped-up adviseering accuses in 19th Century France that triggered a national crisis.
“Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu will not produce to presbrave, will not be deterred, and will not retreat until all the war goals set by Israel at the commencening of the campaign [in Gaza] are accomplishd.”
There was no instant reaction from Gallant. But in May he sturdyly declineed the ICC prosecutor’s arrest authorization seeks, saying they had drawn a “despicable” parallel between Israel and Hamas and had tryed to decline his country’s right to self-defence.
Israeli Pdwellnt Isaac Herzog called the chamber’s decision “shocking”, and shelp the ICC had “turned universal equitableice into a universal giggleing stock”.
“The decision has chosen the side of alarm and evil over democracy and freedom, and turned the very system of equitableice into a human shield for Hamas’ crimes agetst humanity,” he inserted.
Hamas received the authorizations for Netanyahu and Gallant, saying that it “constitutes an vital historical pwithdrawnt, and a rightion to a lengthy path of historical inequitableice agetst our people”.
It also called on countries around the world to utilize the authorizations and toil to stop what it called “the crimes of mass murder agetst defenceless civilians in the Gaza Strip”.
Israel has intensely denied that its forces are pledgeting mass murder agetst Palestinian in Gaza.
