The International Criminal Court (ICC) Prosecutor Karim Khan has filed for warrants of arrest against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, his Defence Minister Yoav Gallant and top Hamas leaders on suspicion of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
In a statement on Monday, May 20, Khan said that based on evidence his office had collected and examined, he had reasons to believe that Netanyahu and Gallant bear criminal responsibility for various war crimes and crimes against humanity committed on the territory of the State of Palestine (Gaza Strip), from at least October 8 2023.
The crimes include; starvation of civilians as a method of warfare, willfully causing great suffering, or serious injury to body or health, willful killing, and intentionally directing attacks against a civilian population as a war crime.
Others are; extermination and/or murder, persecution as a crime against humanity and other inhumane acts as crimes against humanity.
“My Office submits that the war crimes alleged in these applications were committed in the context of an international armed conflict between Israel and Palestine, and a non-international armed conflict between Israel and Hamas (together with other Palestinian Armed Groups) running in parallel,” Khan said.
He added: “We submit that the crimes against humanity charged were committed as part of a widespread and systematic attack against the Palestinian civilian population pursuant to State policy. These crimes, in our assessment, continue to this day.”
Hamas leaders
Likewise, Khan has also filed for warrants of arrest against top Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) leaders on suspicion of war crimes and crimes against humanity committed on the territory of Israel and State of Palestine.
The leaders include; Yahya SINWAR (Head of Hamas in the Gaza Strip), Mohammed Diab Ibrahim AL-MASRI, more commonly known as DEIF (Commander-in-Chief of the military wing of Hamas, known as the Al-Qassam Brigades), and Ismail HANIYEH (Head of Hamas Political Bureau).
For the Hamas leaders, ICC is accusing them of; Extermination as a crime against humanity, Murder as a crime against humanity, Taking hostages as a war crime, Rape and other acts of sexual violence as crimes against humanity, Torture as a crime against humanity, Other inhumane acts, Cruel treatment as a war crime and Outrages upon personal dignity as a war crime.
This is the first time the Hague-based court is targeting a close ally of the United States.
Netanyahu now belongs to the company of the likes of Russian President Vladimir Putin and the late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.
