The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Gallant

The International Criminal Court (ICC) has issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant. They are accused of crimes against humanity and war crimes in the Gaza Strip.

This is stated in the court statement.

The court declares that the specified crimes were committed from at least October 8, 2023 to at least May 20, 2024 — the date on which the prosecution filed a motion for arrest warrants.

Arrest warrants are usually marked "secret" to protect witnesses and ensure an investigation. But ICC believes that "behavior similar to that specified in the warrant is likely to continue." In addition, the court found that the publication of the warrants is in the interests of the victims and their families.

The pre-trial chamber of ICC recognized that there are grounds to believe that Netanyahu and Gallant deliberately and knowingly deprived the civilian population of the Gaza Strip of items necessary for survival — food, water, medicine and medical supplies, as well as fuel and electricity.

Netanyahu and Gallant are held responsible for "deliberately directing an attack on the civilian population", using starvation as a method of warfare, as well as intentional harm to health, deliberate killings, attacks on the civilian population of Gaza and other crimes against humanity.

In a statement, the International Criminal Court notes that Israelʼs decision to allow or increase humanitarian aid to Gaza has often been conditional — seen as a response to pressure from the international community or requests from the United States. The amount of humanitarian aid is considered insufficient and it is said that the civilian population of the Gaza Strip did not have access to basic necessities.

Once the arrest warrants are issued, Netanyahu and Gallant must be arrested if they come to a member state of the International Criminal Court. De jure, 123 countries are closed to them. However, the leader of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin against whom ICC also issued an arrest warrant, came to Mongolia — and he was not arrested, although this country is a member of ICC.

ICC also issued an arrest warrant for the commander of the Hamas military wing Muhammad al-Deif, whose death IDF reported in August. Hamas denied his death. He was issued an arrest warrant for the invasion of Israel by members of Hamas on October 7, 2023, taking hostages and killing local residents.

• On May 20, 2024, the ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan requested arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Galant, as well as three leaders of the Palestinian movement Hamas for alleged war crimes committed in the Gaza Strip after the militants attacked Israel Hamas October 7, 2023.
• Then Netanyahu and a number of Israeli government officials sharply criticized such a request and declared open anti-Semitism. Israel has not ratified the Rome Statute and does not recognize the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court.

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