The International Criminal Court (ICC) on Thursday issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, marking the first time the court has targeted leaders of a democratic nation.
ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan announced that Netanyahu and Gallant were charged with crimes against humanity and war crimes during Israel’s ongoing war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip. The court found reasonable grounds to believe that their actions knowingly deprived Gaza’s civilian population of essential supplies, including food, water, fuel, and medical aid, in violation of international humanitarian law.
This holiday season, give to:
Truth and understanding
The Media Line's intrepid correspondents are in Israel, Gaza, Lebanon, Syria and Pakistan providing first-person reporting.
They all said they cover it.
We see it.
We report with just one agenda: the truth.
According to the ICC, these alleged actions created life-threatening conditions for Gaza’s 2.2 million residents, leading to civilian deaths from malnutrition and dehydration. The deprivation of medical supplies resulted in extreme suffering, with reports of surgeries performed without anesthesia due to shortages. The court noted that limited humanitarian aid allowed into Gaza was often conditional and insufficient to address the dire humanitarian crisis.
The ICC stated these actions were part of a systematic attack against civilians, disregarding multiple international warnings. The arrest warrants make Netanyahu and Gallant liable for detention if they travel to any of the 120-plus ICC member states. Simultaneously, the court issued warrants for several leaders of Hamas, including Mohammed Deif, holding them accountable for the October 7, 2023, massacre that killed over 1,200 people in Israel and triggered the ongoing conflict. However, many of these Hamas officials—including, allegedly, Deif—have since been killed in Israeli airstrikes.
Israel filed an official objection in September, arguing the ICC lacked jurisdiction to discuss the Palestinian complaint that led to the warrants. However, the court rejected this claim, asserting that it can exercise territorial jurisdiction over Palestine as previously determined. The ICC also pointed out that Israel was notified of the investigation’s initiation in 2021 but chose not to seek a deferral of the probe.
The arrest warrants complicate Israel’s ability to negotiate a cease-fire in the 13-month conflict and place Netanyahu and Gallant under significant international scrutiny. While the practical implications may be limited—since neither Israel nor its key ally, the United States, are ICC members—the decision isolates the Israeli leaders politically and symbolically labels them as internationally wanted suspects. The ICC stated that Israel’s acceptance of the court’s jurisdiction was not required for this ruling, a stance likely to draw significant international debate.