The ICC has issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu, Gallant and a Hamas commander

International Criminal Court (ICC) judges have issued arrest warrants for Israel’s prime minister and former defense minister, as well as the Hamas military commander.

The statement said the pre-trial court dismissed Israel’s challenges to the court and issued warrants for Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant.

A warrant was also issued for Mohammed Deif of Hamas, although Israel said he was killed in an airstrike in Gaza in July.

The judges said there were “reasonable grounds” that the three men were “guilty” of war crimes and crimes against humanity during the war between Israel and Hamas. Both Israel and Hamas have denied the allegations.

Prime Minister Netanyahu condemned the ICC decision as “against the law”, while Hamas said the warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant set “an important precedent in history”.

The impact of these guarantees will depend in part on whether the 124 ICC member states – which do not include Israel or its main ally, the United States – decide to implement them.

The White House said the US rejected the ICC decision.

However, several European countries say they respect the court’s rulings.

The ICC has jurisdiction to prosecute those accused of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes in the territory of states that are parties to the Rome Statute, which is its first treaty.

Israel rejects the jurisdiction of the ICC, but the court ruled in 2021 that it has jurisdiction over the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza, because the UN secretary general accepted that the Palestinians are members.

In May, ICC prosecutor Karim Khan sought warrants against Netanyahu, Gallant, Deif and two other slain Hamas leaders, Ismail Haniyeh and Yahya Sinwar.

Although Israel believes Deif is dead, the chamber said it was informed by ICC prosecutors that it was not in a position to determine whether he was killed or alive.

The prosecutor’s case against them stems from the events of October 7, 2023, when Hamas gunmen attacked southern Israel, killing around 1,200 people and taking 251 others back to Gaza as hostages.

Israel responded to the attack by launching a military campaign against Hamas, which has killed at least 44,000 people in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run health ministry in the area.

To Deifthe chamber found reasonable grounds to believe that he was “responsible for the crimes of murder; extermination; torture; and rape and other forms of sexual violence; and war crimes of murder, cruel treatment, torture; taking hostages; outrages on human dignity; and rape and other forms of sexual violence” .

It also said there were reasonable grounds to believe that the crimes against humanity were “part of a widespread and systematic attack directed by Hamas and other armed groups against Israeli citizens”.

For Netanyahu and Gallantwho was removed from the position of the minister of defense earlier this month, the case found reasonable grounds to believe that “each is guilty of the following crimes as accomplices in committing these acts in collaboration with others: the war crime of starvation as a form of war; and crimes against humanity of murder, persecution, and other cruel acts”.

It also found reasonable grounds to believe that “each is criminally responsible as military commanders for the war crime of deliberately directing attacks on civilians”.

The case also noted that it rejected two challenges by Israel – one challenging the ICC’s jurisdiction over the Palestinian territories, and Israeli citizens in particular, and the other claiming that the ICC prosecutor did not give Israel the opportunity to investigate the allegations on its own before requesting permits.

The ICC is the court of last resort and should act only when domestic courts are unable, or unwilling, to investigate or prosecute serious international crimes.

Despite the assurances, Netanyahu and Gallant do not face any threat of prosecution, although it may make it difficult for them to travel abroad.

Technically, if one of them sets foot in any ICC member country, they must be arrested and brought to court.

Netanyahu’s last overseas trip was in July to the US, which is not a member. But last year, he visited several other countries, including the UK, which.

When asked by reporters if Netanyahu would be arrested if he came to the UK, a government spokesman replied: “We are not going into speculation.”

It is believed that a domestic legal process will be required in the UK to decide whether to grant a warrant.

Two EU countries – Italy and the Netherlands – have made it clear they will arrest any men on their territory. Several other European countries have promised to comply with ICC rules without specifying this.

ICC members do not always choose to enforce guarantees.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, who is wanted for war crimes in Ukraine, was given a warm welcome and was not arrested when he visited neighboring Mongolia – an ICC member – in September.

South Africa, another ICC member, also failed to arrest then Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir when he visited in 2015 despite him facing a warrant for war crimes in the Darfur region.

Netanyahu said in the video that it was “a dark day in the history of mankind”, and that the ICC had become “the enemy of man.

“It is an anti-Semitic move with one goal – to stop me, to stop us from having our natural right to defend ourselves against enemies who are trying to destroy us,” he said.

Gallant said the court’s decision “puts the State of Israel and the murderous leaders of Hamas on the same list and thus allows the killing of children, the rape of women and the kidnapping of adults in their beds”.

Hamas did not comment on the warrant for Deif but accepted the warrant for Netanyahu and Gallant, saying that the ICC decision is “an important historical precedent, and the correction of a long path of historical injustice against our people”.

Israel has denied allegations that its soldiers killed Palestinians in Gaza, which is the subject of a separate case at the International Court of Justice.

The Palestinian Authority – which controls parts of the West Bank – said the decision “represents hope and confidence in international law and its institutions” and urged ICC member states to stop “contacts and meetings” with Netanyahu and Gallant.

Palestinians in Gaza have expressed hope that it will bring Israeli leaders to justice.

“The court decision may ease some of my pain, but my sister’s soul – and that of tens of thousands of Palestinian victims – will not find peace until Netanyahu and the leaders of his army are imprisoned,” said Munira al-Shami, Wafa’s sister. was killed in an Israeli attack last month, he told the BBC.

Human Rights Watch said the warrants for the three men “violate the notion that certain individuals are above the law”.

A spokesman for the White House National Security Council said the US “rejects” the court’s decision.

“We remain deeply concerned about the prosecutor’s rush to seek warrants and the troubling procedural errors that led to this decision,” said a spokesman for the National Security Council at the White House.

However, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said it was “not a political decision” and should be respected, noting that it binds all EU member states.

A UK government spokesman said: “We respect the independence of the International Criminal Court.”