The International Criminal Court’s prosecutor requested arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and senior Hamas leaders over alleged war crimes, drawing a fierce reaction from Israel and sharp criticism from US President Joe Biden.
In a dramatic escalation of legal proceedings over the war in Gaza, prosecutor Karim Khan on Monday applied for warrants against Netanyahu and Israeli defence minister Yoav Gallant, as well as Hamas military leaders Yahya Sinwar and Mohammed Deif, and its political head Ismail Haniyeh.
“Today we once again underline that international law and the laws of armed conflict apply to all. No foot soldier, no commander, no civilian leader — no one — can act with impunity,” Khan said.
Israeli politicians were united in condemnation of Khan’s announcement, with President Isaac Herzog warning that the “international judicial system is in danger of collapsing”. Netanyahu said: “This is exactly what the new antisemitism looks like.”
Biden said the prosecutor’s move was “outrageous”, insisting that “whatever this prosecutor might imply, there is no equivalence — none — between Israel and Hamas”.
The ICC’s judges must now decide whether to issue the warrants. If they did so, it would mark the first time that the court, which was set up in 2002, has issued a warrant for a western-backed leader.
Warrants could put Netanyahu and Gallant at risk of arrest if they visited any of the ICC’s 124 member countries — which include most European and Latin American countries and many in Africa and Asia.
Since Hamas is classified as a terrorist organisation by many jurisdictions, the impact would be less dramatic for Sinwar and Deif, who do not leave Gaza, or for Haniyeh, who travels principally to friendly countries.
Legal experts added that the warrants could also affect arms sales to Israel by other countries, particularly from Europe.
Western politicians were divided on the arrest warrants. In the UK, the Conservative government said the ICC did not have jurisdiction in the case, while shadow foreign secretary David Lammy said his opposition Labour party “supports the ICC as a cornerstone of the international legal system . . . whether it is in Ukraine, Sudan, Syria or Gaza”.
The EU chief diplomat Josep Borrell said he took “note” of the ICC prosecutor’s request for arrest warrants, writing on X that “the mandate of the ICC . . . is to prosecute the most serious crimes under international law”. All EU member states are ICC members.
Hamas condemned the move against its leaders as lacking “legal basis” and said the attempts to seek the arrest of Israel’s prime minister and defence minister “came seven months late”.
Khan, a British barrister who has worked as the ICC’s prosecutor since 2021, said he was seeking the warrants against Sinwar, Deif and Haniyeh for their alleged responsibility in crimes of extermination, murder, hostage-taking, rape and other acts of sexual violence and torture committed by Hamas.
He said he had requested warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant for their alleged responsibility for using the starvation of civilians as a method of warfare, intentionally directing attacks against a civilian population, and “extermination and/or murder . . . as a crime against humanity”.
Netanyahu attacked the ICC prosecutor’s application as “absurd and false . . . and a distortion of reality”, rejecting “with disgust” the comparison between “democratic Israel and the mass murderers of Hamas”,
He vowed that nothing would stop Israel from pursuing “total victory” against Hamas.
The ICC developments come as Israel is drawing intensifying international criticism for the toll of its seven-month-long offensive, which has fuelled a humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza.
The hostilities in the enclave began when Hamas militants stormed into Israel on October 7, where they killed 1,200 people and took a further 250 hostage, according to Israeli officials.
In response, Israel launched a devastating assault on Gaza, which has so far killed more than 35,000 people, according to Palestinian officials, as well as displacing more than 1.7mn of its 2.3mn inhabitants and reducing most of the area to rubble.
Earlier this year, the International Court of Justice — the UN’s top court, which deals with cases against countries, rather than individuals — began hearing a separate case brought by South Africa accusing Israel of committing genocide against the Palestinians in Gaza.
Israel has vehemently denied the accusations.
Additional reporting by Neri Zilber in Tel Aviv, Raya Jalabi in Beirut, James Politi in Washington and Paola Tamma in Brussels
Emily Foster is a globe-trotting journalist based in the UK. Her articles offer readers a global perspective on international events, exploring complex geopolitical issues and providing a nuanced view of the world’s most pressing challenges.
