LONDON — The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants on Thursday for Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Gaza Strip.
The court's decision followed allegations leveled in May by the ICC chief prosecutor Karim Khan.
Those allegations, which underpinned the warrants, focused on the period between Oct. 8, 2023 and May 20, 2024, and encompassed the alleged use of "starvation as a method of warfare" and "intentionally directing an attack against the civilian population," as well as what the prosecutor's team said was the deliberate targeting of medical facilities and restrictions on medical and humanitarian supplies.
Israel, whose earlier attempts to challenge the ICC's jurisdiction were denied by the court, rejects the charges against Netanyahu and Gallant. The country's President Isaac Herzog called the decision to issue arrest warrants "outrageous" and said the court had turned the concept of universal justice into a "universal laughing stock." Netanyahu's office said it "utterly rejects the false and absurd charges" and called the decision "antisemitic."
The ICC also issued a warrant Thursday for the arrest of Muhammad Deif, Hamas' military chief, for crimes against humanity and war crimes. Israel said in August that it had killed Deif but Hamas has not confirmed Deif's death and the ICC said the prosecution was not yet in a position to determine his status. Khan, the chief prosecutor, had previously sought arrest warrants for two other Hamas leaders, Yahya Sinwar and Ismail Haniyeh, but withdrew these requests as both men have since been confirmed dead.
The warrant issued Thursday for Deif is tied to the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, assault on Israel, which sparked the current war. Authorities in Israel say more than 1,200 people were killed in the Oct. 7 attack, and some 250 were taken hostage in Gaza.
In issuing the warrant, the court's pretrial chamber determined there were reasonable grounds to believe that Deif, also known as Mohammed Diab Ibrahim al-Masri, was responsible for crimes against humanity including "murder; extermination; torture; and rape," as well as war crimes that included "murder, cruel treatment, torture, taking hostages, outrages upon personal dignity and rape."
While Israel and Hamas have repeatedly denied the prosecutor's allegations against their respective leaders, Hamas hailed the warrants against the two Israelis in a statement as an "important historical precedent, and a correction to a long path of historical injustice against our people."
Israel's military action in Gaza has so far killed nearly 44,000 people, according to the territory's health ministry that Hamas oversees. The ICC said there were reasonable grounds to believe that Netanyahu and Gallant bore "criminal responsibility as civilian superiors for the war crime of intentionally directing an attack against the civilian population."
"The ICC's judges stood up for victims and survivors in Palestine and Israel," said Mark Kersten, a senior consultant for the Wayamo Foundation, a Berlin-based nonprofit focused on strengthening the rule of international law. "It may not be that we see trials in the near future, but this is a powerful signal that the only permanent international criminal court in the world believes them — and not their perpetrators."
For Netanyahu and Gallant, the issuance of arrest warrants means the 124 member countries of the International Criminal Court are now under a legal obligation to arrest them on their territory.
Netanyahu visited the United States recently, but the U.S. is not a signatory to the treaty that established the court, so is not under this obligation. (Others include Russia, China and India).
A U.S. National Security Council spokesperson told journalists on Thursday the United States was "deeply concerned by the prosecutor's rush to seek arrest warrants and the troubling process errors that led to this decision."
But some officials in Europe, the Middle East and Africa welcomed the news. Caspar Veldkamp, the foreign minister of the Netherlands, where the ICC is headquartered, told the Dutch parliament his government would no longer engage in any "non-essential" contacts with Netanyahu and Gallant, and would arrest the Israeli premier if he set foot in Dutch territory.
And in France, a spokesperson for the foreign ministry said the country would act "in line with the ICC's statutes," but as to whether it would arrest Netanyahu if he entered France, the question was "legally complex."
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