The Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Karim Khan, has sought arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s defense minister Yoav Gallant, and Hamas leaders Yahya Sinwar, Mohammed Diab Ibrahim, known by his nom de guerre Deif, and Ismail Haniyeh for war crimes and crimes against humanity.
In a recorded statement, Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan announced that his office has filed an application to the ICC’s pre-trial chamber for crimes against humanity committed in Hamas’ attack on Israel on October 7, 2023 and subsequently, Israel’s war in Gaza.
The prosecutor’s announcement of the arrest warrant comes at the same time as thousands of Israeli citizens are protesting Netanyahu’s government near the Knesset in Jerusalem.
The Prosecutor’s statement provides an explanation of the consultation process that went into the arrest warrants, which included input from a group of experts and authorities in international law.
The move by Khan’s office has been criticized by lawmakers in the US and UK, who accuse the ICC of being biased against the state of Israel. Republican lawmakers in particular have claimed to be seeking international sanctions against the ICC.
Experts have suggested that Israel’s right-wing ultranationalist leaders are likely to double down in the face of the ICC prosecutor’s decision, and will harden their beliefs that Israel is being unjustly victimized. Others however, have accused the ICC prosecutor’s office of engaging in “bothsides-ism,” by equating the actions of Hamas leadership with the “genocide that Israel is perpetrating.”
It must be kept in mind that the ICC is a criminal tribunal, and is not part of the United Nations system, unlike the International Court of Justice (ICJ), where Israel is facing accusations of breaching its obligations under the Genocide Convention, in a case brought by South Africa. Israel has largely ignored the provisional measures that were ordered by the International Court of Justice.