ICC issues arrest warrants for Netanyahu, Gallant and Hamas leader Deif

The International Criminal Court (ICC) has issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, and Hamas military commander Mohammed Diab Ibrahim Al-Masri, aka Mohammed Deif.

In a written statement on Thursday, the ICC said Netanyahu and Gallant are responsible for committing "the war crime of starvation as a method of warfare; and the crimes against humanity of murder, persecution, and other inhumane acts."

The Israeli Foreign Ministry said in September that it had submitted two legal briefs challenging the ICC's jurisdiction and arguing that the court did not provide Israel the opportunity to investigate the allegations itself before requesting the warrants.

The ICC said that "the acceptance by Israel of the Court's jurisdiction is not required."

Member states are required to detain suspects entering the country if a warrant is issued. The threat of arrest could make it difficult for Netanyahu and Gallant to travel abroad, although Russian President Vladimir Putin, who is wanted on an ICC warrant for alleged war crimes in Ukraine, recently showed he could still visit an ally when he travelled to Mongolia, one of the court’s member states, and was not arrested.

Mixed reactions

Netanyahu rejected "with disgust" what he labelled as an "antisemitic" warrant, saying there was "nothing more just than the war that Israel has been waging in Gaza” in a statement released by his office on Thursday.

Other Israeli leaders, including President Isaac Herzog, former PM Naftali Bennett, ministers Gideon Saar and Itamar Ben-Gvir, and opposition leader Yair Lapid, also condemned the court's decision.

In a press conference on Thursday, the EU's foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said the warrants are not political and that the court's decision should be respected and implemented.

"It is not a political decision, it is a decision of a court, of a court of justice, an international court of justice. And the decision of the court has to be respected and implemented."

In a written statement, Hamas welcomed the ICC's arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant and said they were an important step towards justice. The decision marked an "important historical precedent and a correction to a long history of injustice," the letter said, urging the court to hold all "criminal occupation leaders" accountable.

The tribunal ruled that Deif's warrant was "classified as ‘secret’ to protect witnesses and safeguard the conduct of investigations."

Deif was one of the reported masterminds of the 7 October attack last year. In July, the Israeli military claimed to have killed the Hamas commander in an airstrike in Gaza, but Hamas has neither confirmed nor denied these claims.

The tribunal's chief prosecutor had also sought warrants for two other senior Hamas figures, Yahya Sinwar and Ismail Haniyeh, but they were both killed in the conflict.