The International Criminal Court on Thursday issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, along with Hamas leader Mohammed Deif, who has charged Israel said he had been murdered during an air raid in July.
Judges ruled that there were “reasonable grounds to believe that” both Netanyahu and Gallant “intentionally and knowingly deprived the civilian population in Gaza of items indispensable to their survival, including food, water, medicine and medical supplies, as well as fuel and electricity. from at least October 8, 2023 to May 20, 2024,” the ICC prosecutor said has filed a request for arrest warrantsThe ICC wrote this in a statement on Thursday.
“This finding is based on the role of Mr. Netanyahu and Mr. Gallant in obstructing humanitarian assistance in violation of international humanitarian law and on their failure to facilitate assistance through all available means,” the ICC said.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, left, is seen at a press conference with then-Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.
Judges at the United Nations court “found that their conduct led to the disruption of the ability of humanitarian organizations to deliver food and other essential goods to the population in need in Gaza. The above restrictions, along with cutting off electricity and reducing fuel supplies, also had a serious impact on the availability of water in Gaza and the ability of hospitals to provide medical care.”
Israeli officials condemned the ICC prosecutor’s decision to seek arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant in May, and were quick to condemn the issuance of the arrest warrants on Thursday.
Netanyahu’s office released a scathing statement denouncing the ICC as anti-Semitic and claiming that the chief prosecutor only requested the arrest warrants in the first place to divert attention. allegations of sexual misconduct.
“Israel rejects with disgust the absurd and false actions and charges against Israel by the International Criminal Court, a biased and discriminatory political body,” Netanyahu’s office said. “There is nothing more just than the war Israel has waged in Gaza… after the terrorist organization Hamas launched a murderous attack on the country, committing the largest massacre against the Jewish people since the Holocaust.”
“No anti-Israel decision will prevent the State of Israel from protecting its citizens,” the statement said, adding that Netanyahu himself “would not give in to pressure, will not back down and will not withdraw until all war targets that Israel has achieved’ has been achieved. established at the beginning of the campaign are achieved.”
Deif, the commander of Hamas’s military wing whom Israel says it killed last summer, was accused by ICC judges 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; and rape and other forms of sexual violence,” in connection with the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack on Israel that sparked the attack. ongoing war.
An image released by the Israeli military on August 1, 2024 announces the assassination of Hamas military wing commander Mohammed Deif. /Credit: IDF via AP
About 1,200 Israelis, mostly civilians, were killed in that attack and about 250 others were taken hostage.
Hamas has neither confirmed nor denied Deif’s killing in an Israeli airstrike in July.
This breaking news story will be updated.
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