On the same occasion, the prosecutor requested the arrest of Yahya Sinwar, then head of Hamas in Gaza considered a mastermind of October 7th.
The ICC (International Criminal Court) issued, this Thursday (21), arrest warrants against the Prime Minister of Israel, Binyamin Netanyahu, his former Defense Minister, Yoav Gallant, and the leader of Hamas, Mohammed Diab Ibrahim Al-Masri, also known as Mohammed Deif.
The three are accused of war crimes in the ongoing conflict in the Middle East – Israel, however, claims to have killed Al-Masri, also known as Mohammed Deif, during an airstrike in July this year.
With the order, both Netanyahu and Gallant could be arrested if they travel to any of the more than 120 countries that are signatories to the Rome Statute, the international treaty that created the court.
The decision comes after ICC prosecutor Karim Khan called for the arrest of the three in May for alleged crimes related to the October 7, 2023, attacks in Israel and Tel Aviv’s military response in Gaza.
Khan accuses them of “deliberately starving civilians” and of “extermination and/or murder” in the Gaza Strip. “We affirm that the crimes against humanity charged were committed as part of a widespread and systematic attack against the Palestinian civilian population, to fulfill a State policy”, declared the prosecutor at the time.
On the same occasion, the prosecutor requested the arrest of Yahya Sinwar, then head of Hamas in Gaza considered a mentor of October 7th; Ismail Haniyeh, the group’s political leader, exiled in Qatar at the time, and Mohammed Deif, commander of the Qassam Brigades, the faction’s military wing.
Khan said he had “reasonable grounds to believe” that Sinwar, Haniyeh and Deif were responsible for “the murder of hundreds of Israeli civilians in attacks carried out by Hamas.”
All have since been declared dead by Israel – the first, during a ground attack in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, in October; the second, during a trip to the inauguration of the president of Iran, in July; and the third, in an air raid on Khan Yunis, also in July.
Only the third did not have his death confirmed by Hamas, which made the court consider the arrest request against him.
Israel is not a signatory to the statute of the Hague-based court nor does it recognize its jurisdiction in Gaza. The ICC, however, states that this does not prevent the measure.
