U.N. court ICC issues arrest warrants for Israel’s Netanyahu, former defense chief and a Hamas leader

The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants Thursday for Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, along with Hamas leader Mohammed Deif, whom Israel has said was killed in an airstrike in July.

Judges found there were “reasonable grounds to believe that” both Netanyahu and Gallant “intentionally and knowingly deprived the civilian population in Gaza of objects indispensable to their survival, including food, water, and medicine and medical supplies, as well as fuel and electricity, from at least 8 October 2023 to 20 May 2024,” when the ICC prosecutor filed applications for the arrest warrants, the ICC said in a statement Thursday.

“This finding is based on the role of Mr Netanyahu and Mr Gallant in impeding humanitarian aid in violation of international humanitarian law and their failure to facilitate relief by all means at its disposal,” the ICC said.

Judges at the United Nations court “found that their conduct led to the disruption of the ability of humanitarian organizations to provide food and other essential goods to the population in need in Gaza. The aforementioned restrictions together with cutting off electricity and reducing fuel supply also had a severe impact on the availability of water in Gaza and the ability of hospitals to provide medical care.”

Israeli officials condemned the ICC prosecutor’s decision to seek arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant in May, and they were quick to lambast the issuing of the warrants on Thursday.

President Isaac Herzog called it “a dark day for humanity,” slamming the “outrageous decision at the ICC” and accusing the court of turning “universal justice into a universal laughing stock.”

He said the court’s decision to issue the arrest warrants “ignores the plight of the 101 Israeli hostages held in brutal captivity by Hamas in Gaza. It ignores Hamas’ cynical use of its own people as human shields. It ignores the basic fact that Israel was barbarically attacked and has the duty and right to defend its people.”

Deif, the commander of Hamas’ military wing whom Israel says it killed over the summer, was accused by the ICC judges of being “responsible for the crimes against humanity of murder; extermination; torture; and rape and other forms of sexual violence; as well as the war crimes of murder, cruel treatment, torture; taking hostages; outrages upon personal dignity; and rape and other form of sexual violence,” in connection to Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023 attack on Israel that sparked the ongoing war. 

About 1,200 Israelis, mostly civilians, were killed in that attack and some 250 others taken hostage.

Hamas has not confirmed or denied Deif’s killing in a July Israeli airstrike.

This breaking news story will be updated.