The Pre-Trial Chamber of the International Criminal Court has issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, rejecting Israel’s respective jurisdictional challenges.
This was announced today, November 21, on the ISS website.
They are accused of crimes against humanity and war crimes in the Gaza Strip committed between at least October 8, 2023, and May 20, 2024, the day the arrest warrants were applied for.
It is noted that the warrants are classified as “secret” to protect witnesses and ensure investigations are carried out.
However, the Chamber has decided to release the information below because actions similar to those described in the arrest warrant appear to be ongoing, the ISS noted.
The ISS notes that it has found sufficient grounds to believe that Netanyahu and Gallant, as officials at the time of committing the incriminated acts, bear criminal liability as co-perpetrators for committing acts together with other persons for the following crimes:
- war crime – starvation as a method of warfare (the ISS believes that Israel’s significant restrictions on the supply of humanitarian aid to Gaza did not have a clear military necessity or other justification);
- crimes against humanity – murder, persecution and other inhumane acts (the ISS believes that a significant part of the civilian population of Gaza was deprived of fundamental rights, including the right to life and health, on political and/or national grounds).
The Chamber also found reasonable grounds to believe that Mr Netanyahu and Mr Gallant were criminally responsible as civilian superiors for the war crime of intentionally directing attacks against the civilian population, the ISS added.
The ISS believes that Netanyahu and Gallant had measures in place to prevent or suppress the commission of crimes or ensure the transfer of cases to the competent authorities, but did not do so.
Source: Racurs
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