Furious Israel denounces International Criminal Court’s ‘absurd’ arrest warrant against Prime Minister Netanyahu, while ‘dead’ Hamas chief also on wanted list

Israel has quashed the International Criminal Court’s ‘absurd’ arrest warrant against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, as ‘dead’ Hamas leader Ibrahim Al-Masri has also been added to the wanted list.

Together with Netanyahu, the ICC also issued an arrest warrant for his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

In their decision to grant the arrest warrants, the ICC judges said there were reasonable grounds to believe that Netanyahu and Gallant were criminally responsible for the famine in Gaza and the persecution of Palestinians.

The arrest warrant for Al-Masri lists allegations of mass killings during the October 7, 2023, attacks on Israel that sparked the Gaza war, including rape and taking hostages. The prosecutor’s office indicated it would continue to gather information related to his reported death.

ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan announced on May 20 that he was seeking arrest warrants for alleged crimes related to the Hamas-led attacks on Israel and the Israeli military response in Gaza.

Israel has rejected the jurisdiction of the Hague court and denied war crimes in Gaza. Israel has said it killed Al-Masri, also known as Mohammed Deif, in an airstrike, but Hamas has neither confirmed nor denied this.

Former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said the ICC’s decision to issue arrest warrants against Netanyahu and Gallant was a “sign of shame” for the court.

Israel’s main opposition leader Yair Lapid also denounced the court’s measure, calling it “a reward for terrorism,” while Israel FM says the ICC has lost its legitimacy with the “absurd” arrest warrants.

Israel claims it killed Mohammed Deif in an airstrike, but his death has never been confirmed

Israeli and Hamas leaders have rejected the war crimes allegations.

The arrest warrants make Netanyahu and the other men internationally wanted suspects and are likely to further isolate them and complicate efforts to broker a ceasefire to end the 13-month conflict.

But its practical implications could be limited as Israel and its main ally, the United States, are not members of the court and several Hamas officials have subsequently been killed in the conflict.

The ICC said Israel’s acceptance of the court’s jurisdiction was not required because the men could all be arrested if they travel to any of the more than 120 member states.

Netanyahu and other Israeli leaders have condemned ICC Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan’s request for arrest warrants as shameful and anti-Semitic.

US President Joe Biden also denounced the prosecutor and expressed support for Israel’s right to defend itself against Hamas. Hamas also rejected the request.

The court said today that there are “reasonable grounds” to believe that Netanyahu and Gallant oversaw attacks on the civilian population in Gaza.

A displaced Palestinian youth tries to control a fire under the rubble after an Israeli attack on a UN-run school where people had taken refuge, in the Nusseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip on November 20, 2024

Palestinians walk amid the destruction after an Israeli attack in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip on November 10, 2024

‘The Chamber found that there are reasonable grounds to believe that both individuals have deliberately and knowingly deprived the civilian population in Gaza of items essential to their survival, including food, water, medicine and medical supplies, as well as fuel and electricity,” the Chamber said. The three-judge panel wrote in its unanimous decision to issue arrest warrants against Netanyahu and Gallant.

Israel’s Foreign Ministry said in September that it had filed two legal papers challenging the ICC’s jurisdiction and arguing that the court had not given Israel the opportunity to investigate the allegations itself before applying for the arrest warrants.

“No other democracy with an independent and respected legal system such as that in Israel has been treated in this prejudicial manner by the prosecutor,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Oren Marmorstein wrote on X.

He said Israel “remains steadfast in its commitment to the rule of law and justice” and will continue to protect its citizens from militancy.

The ICC has also issued an arrest warrant for Deif, saying it has “reasonable grounds to believe” that he is responsible for crimes against humanity, including murder, extermination, torture, rape, as well as war crimes, including taking hostages.

Referring to the October 7 attacks, the court said: ‘In light of the coordinated killings of members of civilians at several separate locations, the Chamber also found that the conduct took place as part of a mass murder of members of the civilian population, and therefore concluded that there are reasonable grounds to believe that the crime against humanity, namely extermination, has been committed.’

“The Chamber found that there are reasonable grounds to believe that both individuals have deliberately and knowingly deprived the civilian population in Gaza of items essential to their survival,” the three-judge panel said.

The court previously said it was seeking an arrest warrant for Ismail Haniyeh, the Hamas leader who was killed in an explosion in Tehran in July.

It also withdrew its application for an arrest warrant against Yahya Sinwar, the chief architect of the October 7 massacre and Haniyeh’s successor, after he was killed by Israeli forces in Gaza last month.

The ICC is a court of last resort that only prosecutes cases when national law enforcement authorities are unable or unwilling to investigate.

Israel is not a member state of the Court. The country has struggled to examine itself in the past, rights groups say.

Despite the arrest warrants, none of the suspects will appear in court in The Hague anytime soon.

The court itself does not have police to enforce arrest warrants, but relies on the cooperation of member states.