ICC issues arrest warrant for Israeli PM Netanyahu for ‘war crimes’ in Gaza

Court also issues warrants for former Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant and Hamas military commander Mohammed Deif.

The International Criminal Court (ICC) has issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, his former defence minister and a Hamas military commander for alleged war crimes.

Netanyahu and former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant were accused of “crimes against humanity and war crimes committed from at least 8 October 2023 until at least 20 May 2024”, a statement from the court said on Thursday.

There are “reasonable grounds” to believe that Gallant and Netanyahu “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”, it said.

Netanyahu’s office said in a statement that “Israel rejects with disgust the absurd and false actions leveled against it by ICC”, adding that Israel won’t “give in to pressure” in the defence of its citizens.

The court also decided “unanimously” to issue an arrest warrant for Hamas’s military commander Mohammed al-Masri, known as Mohammed Deif, “for alleged crimes against humanity and war crimes committed” in Israel and Palestine from October 7, 2023.

It accused him of crimes including murder, torture, rape and other forms of sexual violence.

Israel claims to have killed Deif in an air raid in southern Gaza in July. But the court decided to proceed with the warrant, saying it was “not in a position to determine whether [he] has been killed or remains alive”.

ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan had applied for arrest warrants against the Israeli officials and three Hamas leaders in May for alleged crimes committed during the Hamas-led October 7, 2023 attack on southern Israel and Israel’s subsequent war on Gaza.

ICC prosecutors said there were reasonable grounds to believe Netanyahu and Gallant – as well as Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, the group’s political chief Ismail Haniyeh and Deif – bear criminal responsibility for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Haniyeh was assassinated in Iran in July. Sinwar was killed in combat with the Israeli military in October.

Netanyahu fired Gallant earlier this month, saying he had lost confidence in him over the management of Israel’s wars in Gaza and Lebanon.

Israel is not a member of the ICC and Netanyahu has previously called the prosecutor’s accusations against him a “disgrace”, an attack on the Israeli military and all of Israel.

But the ICC said on Thursday that it had unanimously decided to reject Israel’s appeal over the court’s jurisdiction.

Reporting from Amman, Jordan, Al Jazeera’s Hamdah Salhut said, “Israel did its best to discredit the ICC. It tried to challenge its jurisdiction … and Israeli politicians internally were doing everything they could to fight [the potential ruling].”

Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid condemned the court’s decision, characterising Israel’s war on Gaza as a fight for its life “against terrorist oganisations”.

Former Israeli Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman posted on social media platform X that Israel “will not apologise for protecting its citizens and is committed to continuing to fight terrorism without compromise”.

Al Jazeera’s senior political analyst Marwan Bishara praised the court’s decision to issue the long-awaited arrest warrants, saying “at last, the people of Gaza, after a year of unfolding genocide, might be able to see their perpetrators face justice”.

Gaza’s Ministry of Health said on Thursday that Israel’s war in Gaza has killed at least 44,056 Palestinians and wounded 104,286 since October 7, 2023.

An estimated 1,139 people were killed in Israel during the Hamas-led attacks that day, and more than 200 were taken captive.