The Hague
Arrest warrants requested against Netanyahu and Sinwar
The chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court has requested arrest warrants against Israel’s prime minister and against the leader of the terrorist organization Hamas in the Gaza Strip. photo
© Peter Dejong/AP/dpa
The chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court accuses Israel, among other things, of starving civilians in the Gaza war. At least both sides agree on their reaction.
Chief prosecutor Karim Khan is prosecuting crimes during the Gaza war. According to a statement from the ICC, Khan wants to obtain further arrest warrants against Israel’s Defense Minister Joav Galant as well as against Sinwar’s deputy Mohammed Deif and against Hamas foreign chief Ismail Hanija.
According to the statement, the prosecutor accuses the Hamas leaders of, among other things, “extermination” as well as murder, hostage-taking, rape and torture as crimes against humanity.
Prime Minister Netanyahu and Defense Minister Galant are accused, among other things, of being responsible for starving civilians as a method of warfare as well as indiscriminate killings and targeted attacks on civilians. The ICC judges must now decide whether the requested international arrest warrants will be issued.
The court has no ability to execute arrest warrants. However, in the event of an enforcement action, the freedom of movement of those wanted is severely restricted. One consequence of the arrest warrants would be that all contracting states to the court would be obliged to arrest those wanted and hand them over to the court as soon as they are in their country.
Israel’s foreign minister sees arrest warrant as a “scandalous decision”
Israel has sharply criticized the request for arrest warrants against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Joav Galant by the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC). Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz spoke on Monday of a “scandalous decision.” This represents “a frontal, unrestrained attack on the victims of October 7th and our 128 hostages in Gaza.”
“While the murderers and rapists of Hamas commit crimes against humanity against our brothers and sisters, the chief prosecutor in the same breath mentions our prime minister and defense minister, alongside the despicable Nazi monsters of Hamas – a historic disgrace that will be remembered forever ” Katz said, according to his office.
He ordered the immediate establishment of a situation center in the Foreign Ministry, where specialists would fight against the decision, the main aim of which was “to tie the hands of the State of Israel and deny it the right to self-defense.”
He wanted to speak to the foreign ministers of leading states so that they could object to the chief prosecutor’s decision “and announce that even in the case of arrest warrants, they will not implement them against the leaders of the State of Israel.”
Opposition leader Lapid condemns the decision
Israeli opposition leader Jair Lapid condemns the request for arrest warrants against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Joav Galant by the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC). Lapid spoke of a “complete moral failure.” The former prime minister wrote on X: “We cannot accept the outrageous comparison between Netanyahu and Sinwar, between the leaders of Israel and the leaders of Hamas.”
In the Hamas attacks in the Israeli border area on October 7th, around 1,200 people were killed and more than 250 were kidnapped as hostages in the Gaza Strip. The terrorist attack triggered Israel’s military offensive in the Gaza Strip, which has so far killed more than 35,500 people, according to the Hamas-controlled health authority.