The supreme leader of Iran, a supporter of Hamas and Hezbollah militants in the war against Israel in Gaza and Lebanon, said on Monday (25) that death sentences should be issued for Israeli leaders, not arrest warrants.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was commenting on an International Criminal Court (ICC) ruling that issued arrest warrants on Thursday for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, his former defense chief and a Hamas leader, Ibrahim. Al-Masri.
“They issued a , that’s not enough. The death sentence must be issued to these criminal rulers,” Khamenei exclaimed, referring to Israeli leaders.
In a resolution, ICC judges said there were reasonable grounds to believe that Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant were criminally responsible for acts including murder, persecution and starvation as a weapon of war, as part of a “widespread and systematic attack against the population civil society in Gaza.”
The decision was received with .
Gazans expressed hope that this would help end the violence and bring those responsible for war crimes to justice.
The Israeli government has rejected the jurisdiction of the Hague-based court and denies war crimes in Gaza.
The warrant for a Hamas leader, Ibrahim Al-Masri, lists accusations of mass killings during the , which sparked the war in the Palestinian territory, as well as accusations of rape and hostage taking.
Israel said it killed Masri, also known as Mohammed Deif, in an airstrike in July, but Hamas has not confirmed or denied the claim so far.
Understand conflicts in the Middle East
in Lebanon at the end of September. Like Hamas, Hezbollah and Islamic Jihad are radical groups financed by Iran, and therefore enemies of Israel.
Bombings in Lebanon have intensified in recent months, causing destruction and forcing more than a million people to leave their homes to escape the war. The conflict between Israel and Hezbollah has already left dozens of people dead in Lebanese territory.
At the same time, the war continues in the Gaza Strip, where the Israeli military is fighting Hamas and searching for hostages who were kidnapped more than a year ago during the radical group’s attack on Israeli territory on October 7, 2023. At the time, more than 1,200 people were killed and 250 kidnapped.
Since then, which also
On a third front of conflict, Israel and Iran exchanged attacks, which despite raising tension, did not evolve into an all-out war.
In addition, the Israeli Army has been carrying out bombings on Iranian-allied militia targets in Syria, Yemen and Iraq.
At the moment, both in Lebanon and the Gaza Strip.
