ICC Will Withdraw War Crimes Charges If Sinwar Confirmed Dead. Also: Netanyahu Still Alive

The office of International Criminal Court Prosecutor Karim Khan said Thursday that it is "aware of the reports" that Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar was assassinated by Israeli forces in Gaza, adding that it would withdraw its request for an arrest warrant for war crimes and crimes against humanity related to the October 7, 2023 attack and imprisonment of hostages if Sinwar's death is confirmed.

"In line with standard practice, the office will take relevant action if sufficient information is received confirming his death," Khan's division said of Sinwar, according toThe Associated Press.

Israeli authorities said DNA, fingerprints, and dental records confirm Sinwar's death.

The announcement left some international critics frustrated at the ICC's delay in issuing arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, more than a year after Israel began its bombardment of Gaza.

In May, Khan announced that he had formally applied for warrants to arrest Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for their role "in the crimes of causing extermination, causing starvation as a method of war, including the denial of humanitarian relief supplies, [and] deliberately targeting civilians in conflict."

Khan also said he was seeking arrest warrants for three Hamas leaders: Sinwar, former political leader Ismail Haniyeh, and al-Qassam Brigades commander Mohammed Diab Ibrahim Al-Masri for alleged war crimes including extermination, murder, hostage-taking, rape, torture, and other violations of international law.

Haniyeh was assassinated in late July by Israeli operatives in Tehran, Iran. Israel claims to have also killed Al-Masri, although this has not been confirmed.

In a Thursday evening address, Netanyahu asserted that "Hamas will no longer rule Gaza. This is the beginning of the day after Hamas."

"This is an opportunity for you, the residents of Gaza, to finally break free from its tyranny," he added in an appeal to Palestinians in the embattled strip—more than 150,000 of whom have been killed or wounded in a war for which Israel is on trial for genocide at the International Court of Justice.

Netanyahu's government allowed Hamas—which Israel propped up for years in a bid to counterbalance the power of the Palestinian National Authority—to receive billions of dollars in cash payments via Qatar.

U.S. President Joe Biden said in a statement on Sinwar's reported assassination that "this is a good day for Israel, for the United States, and for the world."

Biden claimed U.S. involvement in efforts to find and kill Sinwar.

"Shortly after the October 7 massacres, I directed special operations personnel and our intelligence professionals to work side-by-side with their Israeli counterparts to help locate and track Sinwar and other Hamas leaders hiding in Gaza," the president said. "With our intelligence help, the [Israel Defense Forces] relentlessly pursued Hamas' leaders, flushing them out of their hiding places and forcing them onto the run."

U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee for president, said during a Thursday press conference that "any terrorist who kills Americans, threatens the American people, or threatens our troops or our interests, know this: We will always bring you to justice."

"Israel has a right to defend itself, and the threat Hamas poses to Israel must be eliminated," Harris added. "Today, there is clear progress toward that goal. Hamas is decimated and its leadership is eliminated."

With the ICC accused of moving too slowly in pursuit of arrest warrants for Israeli and Hamas leaders, Khan has urgedthe court to "urgently render its decisions" on his May applications.

Khan had some reason to tread carefully, as Israel waged a nearly decadelong intimidation campaign against former ICC Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda in response to her pursuit of justice for Israeli war criminals.

U.S. lawmakers have also threatened to sanction ICC officials who seek to hold Israeli leaders accountable for violations of international law, and in June dozens of House Democrats joined their Republican colleagues in passing H.R. 8282, the Illegitimate Court Counteraction Act, which would sanction ICC personnel involved in efforts to bring Israeli leaders to justice.

In an opinion piece published earlier this week by Al Jazeera, former United Nations official Moncef Khane wrote that "the ICC's credibility is hanging by a thread."

"It took Khan no less than seven months to recommend to the court's pre-trial chamber the issuance of warrants of arrest for Netanyahu and Gallant, notwithstanding a rather formidable amount of evidence of their personal responsibility in the war crimes perpetrated in Gaza," he noted.

"Now that he has done his duty, it is for the three sitting judges of the pre-trial chamber to decide whether to issue the warrants or not," Khane added. "The glaring and extraordinary amount of evidence of war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide, and crime of aggression is such that were they to abscond from their responsibility, they would ring the death knell of the ICC."