Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, and Hamas leader Mohammed Deif—whom Israel claims was killed in an attack in July—were all listed on arrest warrants issued by the International Criminal Court on Thursday.
When the ICC prosecutor filed applications for the arrest warrants, judges determined that there were “reasonable grounds to believe that” both Netanyahu and Gallant “intentionally and knowingly deprived the civilian population in Gaza of objects indispensable to their survival, including food, water, and medicine and medical supplies, as well as fuel and electricity, from at least 8 October 2023 to 20 May 2024,” the ICC said in a statement Thursday.
“This finding is based on the role of Mr Netanyahu and Mr Gallant in impeding humanitarian aid in violation of international humanitarian law and their failure to facilitate relief by all means at its disposal,” the International Criminal Court stated.
Judges at the United Nations court “discovered that their actions caused the capacity of aid organizations to deliver food and other necessities to the Gaza population in need to be disrupted.” Along with shutting off electricity and lowering fuel supplies, the aforementioned restrictions had a significant negative influence on Gaza’s water supply and hospitals’ capacity to treat patients.
Israel and Hamas react to arrest warrants issued by the ICC
When the ICC prosecutor decided to request arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant in May, Israeli authorities swiftly denounced the warrants’ issuance on Thursday.
In a harsh statement, Netanyahu’s office called the ICC antisemitic and asserted that the top prosecutor had merely requested the warrants to divert attention away from claims of sexual misbehavior.
The International Criminal Court is a biased and discriminating political agency, and Israel rejects with disgust the ludicrous and fraudulent actions and charges against it,” Netanyahu’s office stated. “There is nothing more just than the war that Israel has been waging in Gaza… after the terrorist organization Hamas launched a murderous attack against it, committing the greatest massacre committed against the Jewish people since the Holocaust.”
Netanyahu himself would “not give in to pressure, will not back down, and will not retreat until all the war goals that Israel set at the start of the campaign are achieved,” the statement stated, adding that no anti-Israeli decision would stop the State of Israel from defending its citizens.
In a statement, Gallant said that the court’s ruling legalized the killing of infants, the rape of women, and the kidnapping of old people from their beds, placing Israel and “the murderous leaders of Hamas in the same row.” The ruling promotes homicidal terrorism and creates a risky precedent against the right to self-defense and moral warfare.
The ICC judges accused Deif, the leader of Hamas’ military wing whom Israel claims it killed over the summer, of being “responsible for the crimes against humanity of murder; extermination; torture; and rape and other forms of sexual violence; as well as the war crimes of murder, cruel treatment, torture; taking hostages; outrages upon personal dignity; and rape and other form of sexual violence,” in relation to Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023 attack on Israel that ignited the current conflict.
In that incident, some 1,200 Israelis—mostly civilians—were killed, and another 250 were taken captive. Hamas has neither confirmed nor denied that an Israeli attack in July killed Deif.
The ICC ruling, according to a statement from Hamas, is a “important step towards justice for the Palestinian cause.”
Without mentioning the arrest warrant for Deif, Hamas stated that “a message must be sent to every war criminal that he will not escape punishment regardless [of] how long it will take and no matter how much he tries to mislead people or distort the narrative, truth will prevail.”
What do the ICC arrest warrants mean practically?
Since any of the 124 member states where the court has authority would be required to arrest Netanyahu and Gallant, the arrest warrants may theoretically restrict their movements. Given Israel’s ongoing military operations in Gaza, Deif, if he is still alive, would already have limited movement within the territory.
Since the ICC lacks a police force, local law enforcement in member states would be in charge of making any arrests. Since Israel and the US are not signatories, the court does not have jurisdiction over them.
According to the Reuters news agency, the Netherlands’ foreign minister stated that the nation was getting ready to execute the warrants.
President-elect Donald Trump’s friend, Republican Senator Lindsay Graham, stated in the United States that “the Court is a dangerous joke.” The moment has come for the U.S. Senate to take action and condemn this careless organization.
The “ICC has no credibility and these allegations have been refuted by the U.S. government,” according to Florida Rep. Mike Waltz, who Trump appointed as the country’s national security adviser, in a social media post. He also defended Israel, claiming that it had “lawfully defended its people & borders from genocidal terrorists.”
“You can expect a strong response to the antisemitic bias of the ICC & UN come January,” Waltz stated.
