Benjamin Netanyahu (L), Yoav Gallant (C) and Mohammed Deif (R)
BBC NEWS | Published November 21, 2024
Judges at the International Criminal Court (ICC) have issued arrest warrants for Israel’s prime minister and former defence minister, as well as the military commander of Hamas.
A statement said a pre-trial chamber had rejected Israel’s challenges to the court’s jurisdiction and issued warrants for Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant.
A warrant was also issued for Mohammed Deif of Hamas, although Israel has said he was killed in an air strike in Gaza in July.
The judges said there were “reasonable grounds” the three men bore “criminal responsibility” for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity during the war between Israel and Hamas. Both Israel and Hamas have rejected the allegations.
The Israeli prime minister’s office condemned the ICC’s decision as “antisemitic”, while Hamas said the warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant set an “important historical precedent”.
The impact of these warrants will in part depend on whether the ICC’s 124 member states – which do not include Israel or its ally, the United States – decide to enforce them or not.
Netanyahu’s most recent overseas trip was to the US in July. Last year, he visited several other countries, including the UK.
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SOURCE: www.bbc.com
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This is the first time there has been an indictment for Netanyahu since Israel’s war on Gaza began in October 2023.
Published November 21, 2024
The International Criminal Court (ICC) has issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, his former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant and a top Hamas leader on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
This is the first time that Netanyahu or any Israeli official has been indicted by an international court for the ongoing war on Gaza.
In a decision posted online on Thursday, the ICC charged Netanyahu, Gallant and Hamas leader Mohammed Deif over Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attacks on Israel and Israel’s subsequent genocidal war in Gaza. Israel claimed to have killed Deif in July, however. It is unclear whether he is still alive.
Effectively, the defendants are now internationally wanted suspects and ICC member states are under legal obligation to arrest them.
Israeli officials slammed the move, calling it “anti-Semitic”. Here’s what this all means:
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