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The Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Karim Khan, said that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his Defense Minister Yoav Gallant bear responsibility for crimes against humanity in Gaza.
He added that the evidence concluded that Israeli officials systematically deprived Palestinians of the essentials of life, and that Netanyahu and Gallant were complicit in causing suffering and starving civilians in Gaza.
He pointed out that “based on the evidence gathered by my office and examined, I have reasonable grounds to believe that the Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, and the Israeli Defense Minister, Yoav Gallant, bear criminal responsibility for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed on the territory of the State of Palestine at least since 8 October 2023.”
The crimes, according to the Prosecutor, include “the war crime of starvation of civilians as a method of warfare, the intentional infliction of severe suffering or serious injury to body or health, willful killing, the war crime of directing attacks against the civilian population, extermination or willful killing, persecution as a crime against humanity, and other inhumane acts.”
In contrast, Khan said that “there are reasonable grounds to believe that both the head of the Hamas resistance movement in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar, the military commander of Al-Qassam Brigades, Muhammad al-Deif, and the head of the movement’s political bureau, Ismail Haniyeh, are responsible for the commission of war crimes and crimes against humanity in Israel,” as he put it.
In reactions within “Israel,” Israeli media reported that an official close to Netanyahu said that the issuance of arrest warrants against Israeli officials is “a global disgrace.”
The Minister in the War Cabinet, Benny Gantz, described the Prosecutor’s request to arrest the Israeli officials as “in itself a crime of historical dimensions.”
Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir called on Netanyahu and Gallant to ignore the “anti-Semitic” Prosecutor and escalate the attack against Hamas.
The leader of the Israeli opposition, Yair Lapid, described the International Criminal Court’s announcement regarding the arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant as “a disaster.”
On the Palestinian side, Sami Abu Zuhri, a leader in the Hamas movement, told Reuters that the decision of the International Criminal Court to request the issuance of an arrest warrant against 3 of the movement’s Palestinian leaders is “equating the victim with the executioner.”
He added that the court’s decision encourages Israel to continue the “war of extermination.”
Source: Al Jazeera
