Last updated on November 22nd, 2024 at 04:35 pm
The International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, on Nov. 21, for war crimes in the ongoing Israeli military operations in the Gaza Strip.
The ICC’s chief prosecutor, Karim Khan, filed for the arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant in May.
The Israeli government challenged the request, arguing the court lacked jurisdiction to bring the charges.
Announcing the arrest warrants on Thursday, the ICC rejected the Israeli jurisdictional challenge.
“The acceptance by Israel of the Court’s jurisdiction is not required, as the Court can exercise its jurisdiction on the basis of territorial jurisdiction of Palestine,” the ICC said.
The ICC, based in the Hague, Netherlands, said the warrants cover “crimes against humanity and war crimes committed from at least 8 October 2023 until at least 20 May 2024,” when Khan initially requested the warrants.
Khan has accused the Israel of blocking humanitarian aid to civilians in Gaza, and alleged Netanyahu and Gallant have “intentionally directing attacks against the civilian population of Gaza.”
The dates over the alleged war crimes encompass Israel’s ongoing military operation in the Gaza Strip, which they launched in retaliation for the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas attack on southern Israel.
The Oct. 7 attacks left around 1,200 people dead and thousands more injured. By the end of the assault, Hamas had taken around 250 people captive back to Gaza, hoping to trade their release for a cease-fire and the release of Palestinians detained in Israel, oftentimes without formal charges or a trial.
Gaza’s health ministry, which operates under the auspices of a Hamas government, has reported some 44,056 people killed and 104,268 more injured in Gaza since Oct. 7, 2023. The health ministry doesn’t distinguish between combatants and noncombatants, but the United Nations’ Human Rights Office has said about 70 percent of the casualties it has verified have been of children and women.
The Israeli prime minister’s office called the ICC’s decision to approve the arrest warrants an antisemitic move.
“Israel utterly rejects the false and absurd charges of the International Criminal Court, a biased and discriminatory political body,” Netanyahu’s office added.
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) also weighed in against the arrest warrants and referred to the ICC as the “International Corrupt Criminal Court.”
Graham called on President Joe Biden, President-elect Donald Trump, and both sitting and future members of Congress to declare the ICC illegitimate.
“Israel is not a member of the ICC nor is the United States. Israel has a very robust legal system and so does the United States. If we do not fight back against the ICC’s attack on Israel, it is as if we are conceding that they have jurisdiction over the United States,” Graham said.
The ICC also approved an arrest warrant for Mohammed Diab Ibrahim Al-Masri, a Hamas leader who also goes by Mohammed Deif. The Israeli military claimed they killed Deif in an airstrike in July, but Hamas had publicly denied the reports and his whereabouts remain unclear.
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