The International Court calls for the arrest of Netanyahu and the head of Hamas

Chief Prosecutor Khan announced this to the CNN broadcaster. It would be the first time that the ICC has issued an international arrest warrant for the political leader of a country allied with the United States

ROME – The International Criminal Court (ICC)will request an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the leader of the Palestinian organization Hamas, Yahya Sinwar, for war crimes and crimes against humanity in relation to the armed assaults against Israel on 7 October and the subsequent war that the Tel Aviv government started in the Gaza Strip. This was reported by the chief prosecutor of the ICC Imran Khan in an exclusive interview with the US broadcaster CNN.
If the judges confirm the decision, it would be the first time that the Criminal Court with headquarters in The Hague issues an international arrest warrant for the political leader of a country allied with the United States.

Khan made it clear that he will also request the arrest warrant for Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and two other senior Hamas officials: the leader of the Al-Qassem Brigades, Mohammed Diab Ibrahim al- Masri – better known as Mohammed Deif -, and the head of the Hamas Political Bureau, Ismail Haniyeh.
Khan clarified that the charges against the Hamas leaders concern “extermination, murder, hostage-taking, rape and violence sexual activity during detention”, while those against Netanyahu and Gallant consist in having “caused extermination, starvation as a method of war – including the denial of humanitarian aid -” and in having < strong>“deliberately targeted civilians during the conflict”.

Khan, in the interview with CNN, added: “On October 7, the world was shocked by the images of people torn from their beds, from their homes, from the various kibbutzim in Israel”, when the commandos of the Bragate Al -Hamas-linked Quds conducted their assaults in southern Israel. The prosecutor added that people “have suffered enormously.” News has been circulating since April about a possible international arrest warrant from the ICC against the leaders of Hamas as well as the leaders of the government and the Israeli Armed Forces. This is a possibility that Netanyahu had defined as “an outrage of historic proportions” against a country that “possesses an independent legal system capable of investigating any violations”.

“No one is above the law”, Khan commented this morning, asked by CNN about the opposition that, in light of those statements, the prime minister will oppose the arrest warrant. Israel is, with the United States, Russia, China and Sudan, among the countries that do not recognize the legitimacy of the Criminal Court. Khan continued: “Israel is free, despite its objections to the Court’s jurisdiction, to raise a complaint before the Court’s judges and that is what I advise them to do.” In the October 7 attacks they 1200 people lost their lives, while around 240 were taken hostage in the Gaza Strip. The military operation that Israel launched on Gaza immediately afterwards caused over 35 thousand deaths, almost 80 thousand injuries, destroyed 70% of the structures and displaced 85% of the population, who receive humanitarian aid with difficulty due to the closure of the crossings border by the Israeli army.