The protagonists of the Gaza war on both the Israeli and Palestinian sides are now facing an arrest warrant. The chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), Karim Khan, made the relevant requests on Monday for both the Hamas leader in Gaza, Jahia Sinwar, as well as for Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his Defense Minister Joav Gallant. They are accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity. A panel of judges at the ICC in The Hague must now decide whether to issue the arrest warrants.
In Israel, the news, revealed by Chief Prosecutor Khan in an interview on CNN, caused great excitement and outrage. Netanyahu had already responded to the first rumors of such an arrest warrant circulating in April by announcing that he would never submit to charges from The Hague. He described a possible prosecution as an “unprecedented anti-Semitic hate crime.” Khan coolly countered this on CNN with the statement: “No one is above the law.”
In a statement published by Khan in The Hague, Netanyahu and Gallant are accused, among other things, of being responsible for starving civilians as a means of warfare. They are also accused of being responsible for arbitrary killings and targeted attacks on civilians. According to Palestinian figures, more than 35,000 people have been killed in the Gaza war so far, around two thirds of whom are said to be women and children.
The Hague chief prosecutor accuses the Hamas leadership of responsibility for extermination, murder, hostage-taking, rape and torture. In addition to Sinwar, arrest warrants were also requested against Mohammed Deif, the leader of the Kassam Brigades, and the head of the Politburo, Ismail Hanija, who resides in Qatar. Khan saw for himself the atrocities of the terrorist attack on October 7th, which left 1,200 dead and the deportation of almost 250 people to Gaza, during a visit to Israel in November. According to his statement, he bases the accusations against Israel on witness statements, satellite images and video and audio material.
Hamas, which is classified as a terrorist organization in many countries, is likely to be less concerned about the threat of arrest warrants. Nevertheless, a spokesman was outraged that “victims and executioners” were now being equated. For Netanyahu and Gallant, however, such arrest warrants could have much greater effects, especially with regard to their freedom of movement. Israel – just like the USA, Russia and China – never joined the ICC, which was founded in 1998. However, the court declared itself responsible for the Middle East conflict in 2021. Each of the more than 120 member states, including all EU states, would therefore be obliged to arrest and extradite those wanted on their territory. “This is a complete distortion of reality,” Netanyahu said of the motion on Monday evening. US President Joe Biden called the chief prosecutor’s actions “outrageous” and said Israel and Hamas should not be treated equally. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken made similar comments. The fact that arrest warrants for high-ranking Israeli officials were requested along with arrest warrants for Hamas terrorists was “shameful.”
In addition to the ICC, the Gaza war also concerns a second world court: the International Court of Justice (ICJ), also based in The Hague. There, South Africa has filed a lawsuit against Israel alleging genocide. An urgent application was rejected; the main proceedings could take years. Unlike the ICJ, which was created in 1946, the Criminal Court does not deal with disputes between states, but rather investigates individual people. If an arrest warrant were actually issued, Netanyahu and Gallant would be on the same level as various African warlords – and with Russian President Vladimir Putin.