The International Criminal Court (ICC) is pursuing arrest warrants for Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity, ICC chief prosecutor Karim Khan announced on Monday. The charges relate to the 7 October attacks on Israel and the ensuing conflict in Gaza.
Khan revealed that the ICC is also seeking warrants for Israel’s Defence Minister Yoav Gallant and two other senior Hamas figures: Mohammed Diab Ibrahim al-Masri (known as Mohammed Deif), leader of the Al Qassem Brigades, and Ismail Haniyeh, the political leader of Hamas.
This move marks the first time the ICC has targeted the top leader of a close US ally. The decision places Netanyahu alongside Russian President Vladimir Putin, against whom the ICC issued an arrest warrant over the war in Ukraine.
Khan detailed the charges against Sinwar, Haniyeh, and al-Masri, which include “extermination, murder, taking of hostages, rape, and sexual assault in detention.” He described the 7 October attack as a day when “people were ripped from their bedrooms, from their homes, from the different kibbutzim in Israel.”
The charges against Netanyahu and Gallant include “causing extermination, causing starvation as a method of war, including the denial of humanitarian relief supplies, and deliberately targeting civilians in conflict,” Khan told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour.
Responding to reports of potential ICC action last month, Netanyahu had described any arrest warrants against senior Israeli officials as “an outrage of historic proportions,” asserting that Israel’s independent legal system rigourously investigates all legal violations. Khan, however, responded by stating, “Nobody is above the law,” and encouraged Israel to challenge the ICC’s jurisdiction before its judges.
Although Israel and the United States are not members of the ICC, the court claims jurisdiction over Gaza, East Jerusalem, and the West Bank following Palestinian leaders’ agreement to the court’s founding principles in 2015.
A panel of ICC judges will now review Khan’s application for the arrest warrants, setting a significant precedent in international law enforcement.
