Israel-Gaza – live: ICC seeks arrest warrant against Israeli PM Netanyahu for alleged war crimes
The chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) is seeking arrest warrants for Israeli and Hamas leaders, including Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in connection with their actions during the seven-month war between Israel and Hamas.
Karim Khan said that he believes Mr Netanyahu, his defense minister Yoav Gallant and three Hamas leaders — Yehia Sinwar, Mohammed Deif and Ismail Haniyeh — are responsible for war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Gaza Strip and Israel.
The prosecutor must request the warrants from a pre-trial panel of three judges. A decision could take weeks.
Israel is not a member of the court, and even if the arrest warrants are issued, Mr Netanyahu and Mr Gallant do not face any immediate risk of prosecution. But the threat of arrest could make it difficult for the Israeli leaders to travel abroad.
Israel launched its war in response to the 7 October terror attack by Hamas that killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took 250 others hostage.
The Israeli offensive has killed more than 35,000 Palestinians, at least half of them women and children, according to the latest estimates by Gaza health officials.
Key points
ICC seeks arrest warrant against Israeli PM Netanyahu for alleged war crimes
Israel responds to ICC prosecutor: a ‘disaster'
Hamas responds to the ICC
What are the war crime allegations?
We are pausing our ive coverage
15:35 , Alexander Butler
We are pausing our live coverage of this event.
Belgium supports ICC seeking arrest warrants
14:51 , Alexander Butler
Belgium will support the work of the International Criminal Court and ensure all those responsible for war crimes are held accountable, the country’s foreign minister said.
Writing on X, Hadja Lahbib, said: “Crimes committed in Gaza must be prosecuted at the highest level, regardless of the perpetrators.
“The fight against impunity wherever crimes occur is a priority for Belgium. Belgium supports the work of the International Criminal Court.
“Belgium will continue to support the essential work of international justice to ensure that those responsible for all crimes are held accountable.”
Crimes committed in Gaza must be prosecuted at the highest level, regardless of the perpetrators.
The fight against impunity wherever crimes occur is a priority for Belgium. Belgium supports the work of the International Criminal Court. (1/3) https://t.co/xdU5We7gx0— Hadja Lahbib (@hadjalahbib) May 20, 2024
Hamas: Who are the group’s leaders?
14:41 , Alexander Butler
The International Criminal Court believes three Hamas leaders — Yehia Sinwar, Mohammed Deif and Ismail Haniyeh — are responsible for war crimes and crimes against humanity.
But who are the officials? Here The Independent has put together a profile on some of the group’s highest-ranking officials.
Read the full article:
Hamas: Who are the group’s leaders?
Who has been accused of war crimes?
14:37 , Alexander Butler
The International Criminal Court (ICC) is seeking arrest warrants for two Israeli leaders and three Hamas officials for their alleged role in war crimes and crimes against humanity.
The ICC, based in the Hague, must request the warrants from a pre-trial panel of three judges, which could take a number of weeks.
It is seeking an arrest warrant for Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, as well as Israeli defence minister Yoav Gallant - for their alleged role in the starvation of civilians as a method of warfare, wilfully causing great suffering and wilful killing or murder as a war crime, among other things.
The court is also seeking arrest warrants for Hamas leaders Yehia Sinwar, Mohammed Deif and Ismail Haniyeh for allegations of bearing responsibility for crimes including extermination and murder, the taking of hostages, torture, rape and other acts of sexual violence.
Watch: ICC seek arrest warrant against Israel PM Netanyahu over alleged Gaza war crimes
14:29 , Alexander Butler
What are the war crime allegations?
14:01 , Alexander Butler
The allegations against Mr Netanyahu and Mr Gallant include bearing responsibility for starvation of civilians as a method of warfare, wilfully causing great suffering and wilful killing or murder as a war crime.
The Hamas leaders face allegations of bearing responsibility for crimes including extermination and murder, the taking of hostages, torture, rape and other acts of sexual violence.
However, several Israeli ministers and Palestinian leaders have denounced the prosecutor’s move to seek arrest warrants.
Israeli war cabinet minister Benny Gantz said: “Drawing parallels between the leaders of a democratic country determined to defend itself from despicable terror to leaders of a blood-thirsty terror organisation (Hamas) is a deep distortion of justice and blatant moral bankruptcy.”
Senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri said the prosecutor’s decision to request warrants for the three Hamas leaders “equates the victim with the executioner”.
Request for Hamas arrest warrants a confusion between ‘victim and executioner’, PLO says
13:35 , Alexander Butler
The International Criminal Court’s request for arrest warrants for three Hamas leaders is a confusion between the “victim and executioner”, the Palestine Liberation Organisation said.
The PLO was found in 1964 and is a coalition of different Palestinian nationalist groups, and is chaired by Fatah’s Mahmoud Abbas in the West Bank.
The group’s official Wasel Abu Youssef said: “The ICC is required to issue arrest warrants against Israeli officials who continue committing genocide crimes in the Gaza Strip,” he added.
Hostage families speak
13:13 , Alexander Butler
The families of some of those Israelis still held captive in Gaza – represented by the Families Forum group – have had their say over the news from the ICC:
“The Families Forum applauds the issuance of warrants against senior Hamas officials, which serves as further recognition of the crimes against humanity they committed on October 7th and continue to perpetrate. 128 innocent hostages from 24 nations remain captive in Hamas tunnels, where they suffer daily physical, sexual, and psychological abuse.
“The Families Forum is not comfortable with the equivalence drawn between Israel's leadership and the terrorists of Hamas. We believe the way to prove this distinction to the world is by immediately entering into negotiations that will free the hostages – the living for rehabilitation, and the deceased for burial.”
Aid into Gaza
13:11 , Chris Stevenson
The halting of aid deliveries through the Rafah crossing between Egypt and the Gaza Strip is connected to the threat posed to humanitarian work by Israel's military operation in the area, Egypt's foreign minister said on Monday.
"Now there is a military presence on the outskirts of the Rafah crossing and military operations that put aid convoys and truck drivers in danger," Sameh Shoukry told reporters after meeting his Greek counterpart in Cairo.
"The procedures resulting from Israeli military operations affect the operation of the Rafah crossing," he said.
Activity has ceased at the Rafah crossing, which is positioned on Egypt's 13km (8 mile) border with the Gaza Strip, since Israel stepped up its military offensive and took operational control of the crossing from the Gazan side on 7 May.
International aid deliveries have been stuck on the Egyptian side of the border, leading to worries that some of the food supplies will perish. Parts of Gaza are at risk of famine after more than seven months of war.
Much of the aid delivered into Gaza since the start of the conflict between Israel and Hamas in October has come through Egypt, entering Gaza through Rafah or the nearby Kerem Shalom crossing on Israel's border with the Palestinian territory.
Mr Shoukry repeated calls for Israel to open other land crossings to deliver aid. "There are closed military crossings that should be used if there is real humanitarian concern about what is happening in Gaza," he said.
‘A show of hypocrisy'
13:06 , Alexander Butler
In a sign of how badly this news has gone down in Israel, Israeli hardline finance minister Bezalel Smotrich described the International Criminal Court prosecutor's seeking of arrest warrants against Israel's prime minister and defence minister as a "show of hypocrisy and Jew-hatred" recalling Nazi propaganda.
"Arrest warrants against them are arrest warrants against us all," Mr Smotrich said in a statement, calling on countries friendly to Israel to take action to disband the ICC.
Mr Smotrich is one of the most extreme voices in Benjanmin Netanyahu’s government coalition.
Hamas response
13:00 , Alexander Butler
The International Criminal Court's (ICC) decision to seek arrest warrants for three leading Hamas militants "equates the victim with the executioner", a senior Hamas official told Reuters.
Sami Abu Zuhri also claimed the ICC decision gives encouragement to Israel to continue its "war of extermination" in Gaza.
Israel’s war cabinet
12:58 , Chris Stevenson
Israeli war cabinet minister Benny Gantz on Monday denounced the seeking of arrest warrants against the country's prime minister and defence minister by the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court as "a crime of historic proportion".
"Drawing parallels between the leaders of a democratic country determined to defend itself from despicable terror to leaders of a blood-thirsty terror organisation (Hamas) is a deep distortion of justice and blatant moral bankruptcy," Mr Gantz said.
מדינת ישראל יצאה למלחמה הצודקת ביותר, לאחר טבח שביצע ארגון טרור באזרחיה.
מדינת ישראל נלחמת באופן המוסרי ביותר בהיסטוריה, תוך הקפדה על החוק הבינלאומי, ויש לה מערכת משפט עצמאית וחזקה.
הצבת מנהיגי מדינה שיצאה לקרב הגנה על אזרחיה, באותה השורה עם טרוריסטים צמאי דם - היא עיוורון מוסרי…— בני גנץ - Benny Gantz (@gantzbe) May 20, 2024
Israel’s response
12:43 , Chris Stevenson
Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid condemned as a "disaster" the announcement by the International Criminal Court prosecutor that arrest warrants had been requested against Israel's prime minister and defence minister.
Addressing his parliamentary faction, Lapid voiced hope that the U.S. Congress would convene and condemn the ICC measure.
The basis to request arrest warrants
12:41 , Chris Stevenson
In his statement, the ICC prosecutor, Karim Khan, says:
“On the basis of evidence collected and examined by my Office, I have reasonable grounds to believe that Yahya SINWAR (Head of the Islamic Resistance Movement (“Hamas”) in the Gaza Strip), Mohammed Diab Ibrahim AL-MASRI, more commonly known as DEIF (Commander-in-Chief of the military wing of Hamas, known as the Al-Qassam Brigades), and Ismail HANIYEH (Head of Hamas Political Bureau) bear criminal responsibility for the following war crimes and crimes against humanity committed on the territory of Israel and the State of Palestine (in the Gaza strip) from at least 7 October 2023:
- Extermination as a crime against humanity, contrary to article 7(1)(b) of the Rome Statute;
- Murder as a crime against humanity, contrary to article 7(1)(a), and as a war crime, contrary to article 8(2)(c)(i);
- Taking hostages as a war crime, contrary to article 8(2)(c)(iii);
- Rape and other acts of sexual violence as crimes against humanity, contrary to article 7(1)(g), and also as war crimes pursuant to article 8(2)(e)(vi) in the context of captivity;
- Torture as a crime against humanity, contrary to article 7(1)(f), and also as a war crime, contrary to article 8(2)(c)(i), in the context of captivity;
- Other inhumane acts as a crime against humanity, contrary to article 7(l)(k), in the context of captivity;
- Cruel treatment as a war crime contrary to article 8(2)(c)(i), in the context of captivity; and
- Outrages upon personal dignity as a war crime, contrary to article 8(2)(c)(ii), in the context of captivity.”
On Israal, he said:
“On the basis of evidence collected and examined by my Office, I have reasonable grounds to believe that Benjamin NETANYAHU, the Prime Minister of Israel, and Yoav GALLANT, the Minister of Defence of Israel, bear criminal responsibility for the following war crimes and crimes against humanity committed on the territory of the State of Palestine (in the Gaza strip) from at least 8 October 2023:
- Starvation of civilians as a method of warfare as a war crime contrary to article 8(2)(b)(xxv) of the Statute;
- Wilfully causing great suffering, or serious injury to body or health contrary to article 8(2)(a)(iii), or cruel treatment as a war crime contrary to article 8(2)(c)(i);
- Wilful killing contrary to article 8(2)(a)(i), or Murder as a war crime contrary to article 8(2)(c)(i);
- Intentionally directing attacks against a civilian population as a war crime contrary to articles 8(2)(b)(i), or 8(2)(e)(i);
- Extermination and/or murder contrary to articles 7(1)(b) and 7(1)(a), including in the context of deaths caused by starvation, as a crime against humanity;
- Persecution as a crime against humanity contrary to article 7(1)(h);
- Other inhumane acts as crimes against humanity contrary to article 7(1)(k).”
The ICC, Israel and Hamas
12:38 , Chris Stevenson
The chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) has said that he is seeking arrest warrants for Israeli and Hamas leaders, including Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in connection with their actions during the seven-month war.
Karim Khan said that he believes Mr Netanyahu; his defence minister, Yoav Gallant; and three Hamas leaders: Yehya Sinwar, Mohammed Deif and Ismail Haniyeh; are responsible for war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Gaza Strip and Israel.
Speaking of the Israeli actions, Mr 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."
He added: "They include malnutrition, dehydration, profound suffering and an increasing number of deaths among the Palestinian population, including babies, other children, and women."
Of the Hamas actions on October 7, he 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."
