The world’s top war-crimes court issued arrest warrants Thursday for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, his former defense minister and Hamas’ military chief, accusing them of crimes against humanity in connection with the 13-month war in Gaza.
The warrants said there was reason to believe Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant have used “starvation as a method of warfare” by restricting humanitarian aid and have intentionally targeted civilians in Israel’s campaign against Hamas in Gaza — charges Israeli officials deny.
The action by the International Criminal Court came as the death toll from Israel’s campaign in Gaza passed 40,000 people, according to local health authorities, who say over half of those killed were women and children. Their count does not differentiate between civilians and combatants.
Netanyahu responded and condemned the warrant against him, saying Israel “rejects with disgust the absurd and false actions” by the court. In a statement released by his office, he said: “There is nothing more just than the war that Israel has been waging in Gaza.”
The warrant is the first of its kind against a sitting leader of a major Western ally who has been accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity by a global court of justice. The decision turns Netanyahu and the others into internationally wanted suspects, putting them at risk of arrest when they travel abroad and potentially further isolating them
Israel and its top ally, the United States, are not members of the court. But others of Israel’s allies, including some of its close European friends, are put in an awkward position. Several, including France, welcomed the court’s decision and signaled they might arrest Netanyahu if he visited.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said President Joe Biden’s administration was “deeply concerned by the prosecutor’s rush to seek arrest warrants and the troubling process errors that led to this decision.”
The warrants represent “the most dramatic step yet in the court’s involvement in the conflict between Israel and Hamas,” said Anthony Dworkin, senior policy fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations.
Israeli leaders, politicians and officials across the spectrum denounced the warrants and the ICC. The new defense minister, Israel Katz, who replaced Gallant earlier this month, said Thursday’s decision is “a moral disgrace, entirely tainted by antisemitism, and drags the international judicial system to an unprecedented low.”
Human rights groups applauded the move.
The warrant for Netanyahu was issued by a three-judge panel in a unanimous decision. The panel said there were reasonable grounds to believe that both men bear responsibility for the war crime of starvation and the crimes against humanity of murder, persecution and other inhumane acts.
The judges said the lack of food, water, electricity, fuel and specific medical supplies created conditions “calculated to bring about the destruction of part of the civilian population in Gaza,” including the deaths of children due to malnutrition and dehydration.
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