Israel, Hamas defy ICC arrest warrants vs leaders
ICC prosecutor Karim Khan says there were willful killing, extermination and starvation
Daily TribuneICC prosecutor Karim Khan says there were willful killing, extermination and starvation
Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, left, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Anadolu Agency/AFP/Getty Images
Israel and Hamas have rejected the arrest warrants issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) against their leaders for allegedly commiting war crimes.
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the subject of the warrant issued by prosecutor Karim Khan, together with the country’s Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, slammed the ICC for comparing the country to mass murderers.
Khan said in a statement that he was seeking warrants against the Israeli leaders for crimes including “wilful killing,” “extermination and/or murder,” and “starvation.”
He said Israel had committed “crimes against humanity” during the war, started by Hamas’ unprecedented 7 October attack, as part “of a widespread and systematic attack against the Palestinian civilian population.”
Khan also said the leaders of Hamas, including Qatar-based Ismail Haniyeh and Gaza chief Yahya Sinwar, “bear criminal responsibility” for actions committed during the 7 October attack of Israel. These included “taking hostages,” “rape and other acts of sexual violence,” and “torture,” he said.
The warrants, if granted by the ICC judges, would mean that any of the 124 ICC member states would technically be obliged to arrest Netanyahu and the others if they traveled there, a point noted by European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell.
Meanwhile, the war in Gaza ground on unabated, with Israeli forces battling Hamas in the Palestinian territory’s far-southern city of Rafah, as well as in other flashpoints in central and northern areas.
Witnesses told Agence France-Presse that Israeli naval forces had also struck the southern Gaza city of Rafah, and medics reported an air strike on a residential building in the city’s west.
The military said Israeli troops were “conducting targeted raids on terrorist infrastructure” in eastern Rafah, where they had found “dozens of tunnel shafts” and “eliminated over 130 terrorists.”
