November 21, (THEWILL) – The International Criminal Court has issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, accusing them of war crimes linked to actions during and after the October 7, 2023, attacks on Israel.
In a statement released Thursday, the court alleged that there were “reasonable grounds” to believe that Netanyahu bears criminal responsibility for war crimes, including “starvation as a method of warfare” and “crimes against humanity of murder, persecution, and other inhumane acts.”
The ICC also issued a warrant for Hamas official Mohammed Diab Ibrahim Al-Masri, popularly known as Mohammed Deif.
Israel previously claimed to have killed Deif in a September airstrike—a claim yet to be verified by Hamas.
According to the ICC, Deif is suspected of “crimes against humanity, including murder, extermination, torture, and rape,” as well as war crimes such as “taking hostages and outrages upon personal dignity.”
The ICC’s statement detailed that Deif “bears criminal responsibility for these crimes, having committed the acts jointly and through others, ordering or inducing their commission, and failing to exercise proper control over forces under his command.”
It further alleged that these actions were part of a “widespread and systematic attack directed by Hamas and other armed groups against Israel’s civilian population.”
Israel swiftly dismissed the ICC’s warrants, describing them as “absurd and antisemitic.”
“Israel utterly rejects the absurd and false actions and accusations by the International Criminal Court, a politically biased and discriminatory body,” Netanyahu’s office stated.
It added, “The ICC is siding with Hamas terrorists who committed the largest massacre of Jewish people since the Holocaust.”
The statement emphasised that Netanyahu would not relent in achieving Israel’s objectives in the ongoing conflict.
It stated, “Netanyahu will not yield to pressure, will not back down, and will not retreat until all the goals of the war are achieved.”
While Israel, like the United States, is not a member of the ICC and contests the court’s jurisdiction over its actions, the ICC maintains that it has authority over territories occupied by Israel, including Gaza, East Jerusalem, and the West Bank.
This jurisdiction stems from the Palestinian Authority’s accession to the ICC’s founding treaty in 2015, agreeing to be bound by its principles.
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