The International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague has issued warrants for the arrest of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and its former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.
The court has also issued a warrant for Hamas leader Mohammed Diab Ibrahim Al-Masri, who is sometimes known as Mohammed Deif.
The court said the warrants were for “crimes against humanity and war crimes committed from at least 8 October 2023 until at least 20 May 2024.”
The ICC said Netanyahu and Gallant bore criminal responsibility for “the war crime of starvation as a method of warfare, and the crimes against humanity of murder, persecution, and other inhumane acts.”
Netanyahu’s office issued a statement, saying, “Israel rejects with disgust the absurd and false actions leveled against it by ICC.”
Israeli President Isaac Herzog said, “The decision chose the side of terrorism and evil over democracy and freedom and turned the international justice system itself into a human shield for Hamas’ crimes against humanity.”
‘Dangerous Joke’
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said: “The court is a dangerous joke. It is now time for the U.S. Senate to act and sanction this irresponsible body.”
Gallant was fired by Netanyahu earlier this month and replaced by Foreign Minister Israel Katz.
Hamas issued a statement saying, “We call on the International Criminal Court to expand the scope of accountability to all criminal occupation leaders.”
Senior Hamas official Basem Naim said, “This is an important step on the path to justice and bringing justice to the victims, but it remains a limited and spiritual step if it is not backed practically by all countries.”
The conflict in Gaza began after the terrorist group Hamas sent gunmen across the border into Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, massacred 1,200 people, and took 250 hostages.
Israel later sent troops into the Gaza Strip to destroy Hamas and rescue hostages, who had been taken into tunnels by the terrorists.
The Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza says 43,300 people have been killed since the conflict began. The number cannot be confirmed by The Epoch Times. It does not distinguish between combatants and civilians.
It will now be up to the ICC’s 124 member states to decide whether to enforce the warrants.
Israel and the United States are not members of the ICC.
Netanyahu has previously condemned ICC chief prosecutor Karim Khan’s request for warrants against him and Gallant as disgraceful and anti-Semitic.
U.S. President Joe Biden has also criticized the decision and expressed his support for Israel’s right to defend itself against Hamas.
Hamas has also criticized the warrant against Deif, who Israel believes is dead.
Rami Teplitskiy, Israel’s deputy ambassador to Romania, wrote on X: “The ICC’s decision to target Israeli leaders defending their citizens equates self-defense with terror. It rewards those who harm Jews and undermines justice. This is a betrayal of the court’s values. Israel will stand strong, protecting its people and its right to exist.”
The issuing of the warrants could complicate efforts to negotiate a cease-fire to end the 13-month conflict.
The court said the arrest warrants were classified as secret to protect witnesses and the integrity of the investigation.
But the chamber of the ICC said it had decided to release the information because “conduct similar to that addressed in the warrant of arrest appears to be ongoing.”
It said it believed it was “in the interest of victims and their families” that the existence of the warrants was put in the public domain.
The ICC said it had already ruled it had jurisdiction over the situation in Gaza and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem.
The ICC said Israel did not need to accept the court’s jurisdiction for the warrant to be issued.
The court said it rejected two legal challenges brought by the state of Israel under articles 18 and 19 of the Rome statute.
In September, Israel challenged the court’s jurisdiction over the “situation in the state of Palestine” in general, and over Israeli nationals.
Israel also asked the court to halt proceedings against Netanyahu and Gallant, following an initial warrant in May.
In a statement on its website, the ICC said of Netanyahu and Gallant, “The chamber considered that there are reasonable grounds to believe that both individuals 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 Oct. 8, 2023 to May 20, 2024.”
It goes on to say that, along with cutting off electricity and reducing fuel supplies, they had a “severe impact” on the ability of hospitals to provide medical care.
The ICC said that by intentionally limiting or preventing medical supplies from getting into Gaza, in particular anesthetics, Netanyahu and Gallant were responsible for “inflicting great suffering by means of inhumane acts on persons in need of treatment.”
The court said people suffered extreme pain because of the lack of anesthetics and that “this amounts to the crime against humanity of other inhumane acts.”
Reuters contributed to this report.
From The Epoch Times