Israel is not a member of the court, and even if the arrest warrants are issued, Netanyahu and Gallant do not face any immediate risk of prosecution. But Khan’s announcement deepens Israel’s isolation as it presses ahead with its war, and the threat of arrest could make it difficult for the Israeli leaders to travel abroad.
The militant Palestinian group also said in a statement that the ICC prosecutor’s request for arrest warrants against Israel’s prime minister and defence chief had come “seven months too late”.
Benny Gantz, a former military chief and member of Israel’s war cabinet with Netanyahu and Gallant, harshly criticised Khan’s announcement, saying Israel fights with “one of the strictest” moral codes and has a robust judiciary capable of investigating itself.
“The State of Israel is waging one of the just wars fought in modern history following a reprehensible massacre perpetrated by terrorist Hamas on the 7th of October,” he said. “The prosecutor’s position to apply for arrest warrants is in itself a crime of historic proportion to be remembered for generations.”
Speaking of the Israeli actions, Khan said in a statement that “the effects of the use of starvation as a method of warfare, together with other attacks and collective punishment against the civilian population of Gaza are acute, visible and widely known. … They include malnutrition, dehydration, profound suffering and an increasing number of deaths among the Palestinian population, including babies, other children, and women”.
Amal Clooney, wife of Hollywood actor George Clooney, is one of the legal experts who recommended that the ICC seek arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Hamas leaders.
The human rights lawyer wrote of her participation in a letter posted on Monday on the website of the couple’s Clooney Foundation for Justice. She said she and other experts in international law unanimously agreed to recommend that Khan seek the warrants.
“I served on this Panel because I believe in the rule of law and the need to protect civilian lives,” Clooney wrote. “The law that protects civilians in war was developed more than 100 years ago and it applies in every country in the world regardless of the reasons for a conflict.”
The United Nations and other aid agencies have repeatedly accused Israel of hindering aid deliveries throughout the war. Israel denies this, saying there are no restrictions on aid entering Gaza and accusing the United Nations of failing to distribute aid. The UN says aid workers have repeatedly come under Israeli fire, and also says continuing fighting and a security vacuum have impeded deliveries.
Of the Hamas actions on October 7, Khan, who visited the region in December, said that he saw for himself “the devastating scenes of these attacks and the profound impact of the unconscionable crimes charged in the applications filed today. Speaking with survivors, I heard how the love within a family, the deepest bonds between a parent and a child, were contorted to inflict unfathomable pain through calculated cruelty and extreme callousness. These acts demand accountability.”
After a brief period of international support for its war, Israel has faced increasing criticism as the war has dragged on and the death toll has climbed.
04:23
GEN-Z VS GENOCIDE: HOPE FOR HUMANITY?
GEN-Z VS GENOCIDE: HOPE FOR HUMANITY?
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Monday denounced the ICC arrest bid as “shameful” rejecting the court’s authority and saying the move put ceasefire efforts at risk.
“We reject the prosecutor’s equivalence of Israel with Hamas. It is shameful,” Blinken said.
He said the United States “will always stand with Israel against threats to its security”.
White House spokesman John Kirby said “we don’t believe the ICC has jurisdiction in this matter”.
Neither the United States nor Israel is a member of the ICC, which was set up in 2002 as a court of last resort for the world’s worst crimes.
“This action is not helpful in relation to reaching a pause in the fighting, getting hostages out or getting humanitarian aid in,” the spokesperson said.
The spokesperson said the ICC did not have the jurisdiction to request the arrest warrants.
“The UK, as with other countries, does not yet recognise Palestine as a state and Israel is not a state party to the Rome Statute,” which outlines the ICC’s areas of jurisdiction, the spokesperson said.
Asked if the police would arrest Netanyahu if he came to Britain, the spokesperson said he would not comment on what he called “hypotheticals”.
British deputy foreign minister Andrew Mitchell later told parliament that the ICC’s decision would not have an immediate impact on the government’s approval of licences so companies can sell weapons to Israel.
“The fact that the prosecutor has applied for arrest warrants to be issued does not directly impact, for example, on UK licensing decisions but we will continue to monitor developments,” Mitchell said.
Additional reporting by Reuters, Agence France-Presse