The International Criminal Court in The Hague has
Arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahuthe former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and the military chief of the radical Islamic Palestinian organization Hamas, Mohammed Deif. The arrest warrant against Netanyahu and Gallant is
for crimes against humanity and war crimes The tribunal based in The Hague, Netherlands, announced that the tribunal had committed crimes between October 8, 2023 and at least May 20, 2024. A further statement said that an arrest warrant had also been issued against Deif.
The chamber thus rejected challenges to jurisdiction by Israel. Israel’s recognition of the Court’s jurisdiction is not necessary since the ICC can exercise its jurisdiction on the basis of Palestine’s territorial jurisdiction, the Chamber reasoned. The court classified the arrest warrants as “secret” and justified this with witness protection and the protection of the investigation.
There is sufficient suspicion that
Netanyahu and Gallant as accomplices bear criminal responsibility for “the war crime of starvation as a method of warfare and the crimes against humanity of murder, persecution and other inhumane acts.”
In order to enforce its arrest warrants, the ICC relies on the cooperation of the 124 member states. They are theoretically obliged to arrest those wantedas soon as they are in their national territory. This could make it more difficult for Netanyahu and Gallant to travel to the EU, for example. Israel’s most important ally, the USA, is not a member of the ICC, so it does not have to execute the arrest warrants.
