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After months of deliberation, the International Criminal Court on Thursday formally issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, and Hamas leader Mohammed Diab Ibrahim Al-Masri.
The ICC's Pre-Trial Chamber I, a panel of judges, said in a statement that it unanimously rejected Israel's challenges to arrest warrant applications submitted in May by Karim Khan, the chief prosecutor at the ICC.
"The Chamber issued warrants of arrest for two individuals, Mr. Benjamin Netanyahu and Mr. Yoav Gallant, for crimes against humanity and war crimes committed from at least 8 October 2023 until at least 20 May 2024, the day the Prosecution filed the applications for warrants of arrest," the panel said, specifically alleging "the war crime of starvation as a method of warfare" and "the crimes against humanity of murder, persecution, and other inhumane acts."
The announcement came as the official death toll from Israel's war on the Gaza Strip surpassed 44,000.
The ICC judges said they "found reasonable grounds to believe" that Netanyahu and Gallant "intentionally and knowingly deprived the civilian population in Gaza of objects indispensable to their survival, including food, water, and medicine and medical supplies, as well as fuel and electricity." The panel also said it "found reasonable grounds to believe that no clear military need or other justification under international humanitarian law could be identified for the restrictions placed on access for humanitarian relief operations."
"Finally, the Chamber assessed that there are reasonable grounds to believe that Mr. Netanyahu and Mr. Gallant bear criminal responsibility as civilian superiors for the war crime of intentionally directing attacks against the civilian population of Gaza," the judges added.
The panel issued a separate statement announcing an arrest warrant for Hamas leader Mohammed Diab Ibrahim Al-Masri, saying it found "reasonable grounds to believe" he is "responsible for the crimes against humanity of murder; extermination; torture; and rape and other form of sexual violence; as well as the war crimes of murder, cruel treatment, torture; taking hostages; outrages upon personal dignity; and rape and other forms of sexual violence."
Neither the U.S. nor Israel recognize the ICC's jurisdiction, and the decision is expected to spark backlash from both countries.
Over the summer, in response to Khan's May application for arrest warrants, the Republican-led U.S. House of Representatives passed legislation that would impose sanctions on the ICC. More than 40 House Democrats supported the measure, which has not received a vote in the narrowly Democratic Senate.
U.K. Member of Parliament Jeremy Corbyn, the former leader of the Labour Party, called the ICC arrest warrants "long overdue" and urged the government of Keir Starmer to "immediately endorse this decision."
"That is the bare minimum," Corbyn wrote on social media. "Will the U.K. government now, finally, honor its international obligations to prevent genocide and end all arms sales to Israel?"
