The International Criminal Court (ICC) has issued arrest warrants for Hamas leader Yadya Sinwar and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity related to the October 7 attacks on Israel and the war in Gaza. The chief prosecutor of the court, Karim Khan, said this in an interview with SiEnEn.
Khan added that the ICC is also seeking arrest warrants for Israeli Defense Minister Jo Gallant, as well as two senior Hamas leaders – Mohammed Diab Ibrahim al-Masri, better known as Mohammed Deif, the leader of the Al Quazem Brigades, and Ismail Haniyah, the political leader of Hamas. This is the first time the ICC has targeted the top leader of a close ally of the United States, which is significant because Netanyahu is now in the company of Russian President Vladimir Putin, who is also under an arrest warrant over the war in Ukraine.
A panel of ICC judges will now consider Khan’s request for an arrest warrant. The charges against Sinwar, Haniyeh and al-Masri include “extermination, murder, hostage-taking, rape and sexual assault”. Khan stated that “the world was shocked on October 7 when people were torn from their bedrooms, from their homes, from different kibbutzim in Israel,” adding that “people suffered tremendously.”
The charges against Netanyahu and Gallant include “inciting extermination, inciting starvation as a method of war, including withholding humanitarian aid supplies, and deliberately targeting civilians in conflict.” When reports of a possible warrant emerged last month, Netanyahu said any ICC arrest warrant against Israeli officials would be “an outrage of historic proportions” and stressed that Israel “has an independent legal system that rigorously investigates all violations of the law.” .
Asked by Amanpour about Netanyahu’s comments, Khan replied: “No one is above the law.” He also noted that if Israel disagrees with the ICC, “they are free, regardless of their objections to jurisdiction, to challenge it before the judges of the court and I advise them to do so.”
Although Israel and the United States are not members of the ICC, the court claims jurisdiction over Gaza, East Jerusalem and the West Bank because Palestinian leaders formally agreed to the principle of establishing the court in 2015.
