Rome [Italy], November 21 (ANI): The International Criminal Court on Thursday issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant and a senior Hamas official over alleged war crimes committed during the conflict that followed the October 7 attacks on Israel last year, a statement by the ICC said.
The court believed it had ‘reasonable grounds’ to believe that the Netanyahu, Gallant and Mohammed Diab Ibrahim AL-MASRI, more commonly known as DEIF (Commander-in-Chief of the military wing of Hamas, known as the Al-Qassam Brigades) committed war crimes and crimes against humanity, as per the statement.
The charges include- Starvation of civilians as a method of warfare, wilfully causing great suffering, or serious injury to body or health, intentionally directing attacks against a civilian population, other inhumane acts as crimes against humanity, among other charges, as per the statement. “The war crimes alleged in these applications were committed in the context of an international armed conflict between Israel and Palestine, and a non-international armed conflict between Israel and Hamas (together with other Palestinian Armed Groups) running in parallel. We submit that the crimes against humanity charged were committed as part of a widespread and systematic attack against the Palestinian civilian population pursuant to State policy. These crimes, in our assessment, continue to this day,” the court noted.
This will be the first time the ICC ever issued warrants against leaders of a democratic country, Times of Israel said, adding that Netanyahu and Gallant would be liable of arrest if they travel to any country that is party to the ICC. Israel is not a party to the ICC. Israel says Deif was killed by an IDF strike in Gaza in July, as per Times of Israel.
The Court charged Yahya Sinwar, Head of the Islamic Resistance Movement (“Hamas”) in the Gaza Strip, DIEF, and Ismail Haniyeh for ‘crimes against humanity’, including rape and other acts of sexual violence, outrages upon personal dignity as a war crime, in the context of captivity, among other charges, as per the ICC.
Britain, Ireland to comply with ICC, arrest Netanyahu if he sets foot there
Tel Aviv [Israel], November 23 (ANI): Britain hinted that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu could be arrested on the basis of an International Criminal Court warrant if he visits, and Ireland said it would definitely arrest him if he did, as per Times of Israel.
“The UK will always comply with its legal obligations as set out by domestic law and indeed international law,” UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s spokesperson said on Friday, as per Times of Israel. However, the spokesperson denied when asked about Netanyahu, and said, he would not “talk about specific cases.”
Earlier on Friday, Ireland’s Prime Minister Simon Harris said Netanyahu would be detained if he arrived there. Asked by state broadcaster RTE if Ireland would arrest the Israeli prime minister if he came to Ireland, Harris said: “Yes, absolutely,” as per Times of Israel. “We support international courts and we apply their warrants,” he added.
The Ireland-Israel relations went downhill after the former recognised the State of Palestine last May, causing Israel to spring to action and call their ambassador back, as per Times of Israel.
The ICC arrest warrant has several countries in splits on whether to uphold it or not.
Ireland’s Foreign Minister Micheal Martin said Friday he disagreed with US President Joe Biden’s depiction of the warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant as “outrageous,” asserting that war crimes have been committed in Gaza. “It’s a collective punishment of the people… it’s genocidal,” he said, as per Times of Israel.
Canada, Belgium, Spain, Austria, Finland, Portugal, the Netherlands, Slovenia and Switzerland are among others of the 124 ICC member-countries that have said they will comply with the arrest warrants. Others, including
Hungary, Czechia and Argentina, have said they will ignore them. Hungary rejected the ICC decision to seek Netanyahu’s arrest for alleged war crimes in Gaza and invited him to make an official visit
The International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague on Thursday issued arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, accusing them of “crimes against humanity and war crimes. “The charges include allegations of targeting civilians and enforcing policies of starvation in Gaza.Prime Minister Netanyahu condemned the “antisemitic” decision of the ICC in a statement on his social media program. (ANI)
