The International Criminal Court (ICC) has issued arrest warrants for Israel’s Prime Minister and former Defence Minister, as well as the military commander of Hamas.
The White House and Israel said they rejected the ICC decision.
An ICC 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.
Prime Minister Netanyahu condemned the ICC’s decision as “antisemitic”, while Hamas said the warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant had 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 main ally, the United States – decide to enforce them or not.
However, several European countries have said they respect the decisions of the court.
The ICC has the authority to prosecute those accused of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes on the territory of states party to the Rome Statute, its founding treaty.
Israel rejects the ICC’s jurisdiction, but the court ruled in 2021 that it had jurisdiction over the occupied West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza because the UN’s secretary general had accepted the Palestinians were a member.
