The International Criminal Court (ICC) is pursuing arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar on charges of crimes against humanity and war crimes related to the war in Gaza and the October 7 attacks on Israel that ignited the conflict, the court’s chief prosecutor, Karim Khan informed CNN on Monday.
Khan stated that the ICC is also seeking warrants for Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant and two other senior Hamas leaders — Mohammed Diab Ibrahim al-Masri, leader of the Al Qassem Brigades, and Ismail Haniyeh, Hamas’ political leader. A panel of ICC judges will be reviewing the chief prosecutor’s request for the arrest warrants, according to the report.
The CNN report highlighted that the warrants against Israeli politicians represent the first instance of the ICC targeting the top leader of a close US ally. Previously, the ICC had issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin concerning Moscow’s war on Ukraine.
The charges against Sinwar, Haniyeh, and al-Masri include “extermination, murder, taking of hostages, rape and sexual assault in detention,” said Khan.
Khan mentioned that the charges against Netanyahu and Gallant encompass “causing extermination, causing starvation as a method of war, including the denial of humanitarian relief supplies, deliberately targeting civilians in conflict.”
Exploring the role and purpose of the International Criminal Court
Established in 2002, the ICC is designed to prosecute war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide, and the crime of aggression if its member states are unable or unwilling to do so themselves.
Although both Israel and the US are not members of the ICC, the court claims jurisdiction over Gaza, East Jerusalem, and the West Bank after Palestinian leaders agreed to be bound by its founding principles in 2015.
Based in The Hague, Netherlands, the tribunal can prosecute crimes committed by nationals of its member states or even on the territory of those states by other actors.
Even if the arrest warrants are issued, capturing and arraigning Israeli officials and Hamas leaders would be challenging.
An arrest warrant would require ICC member states to arrest the specified Israeli officials or Hamas leaders if they travel to their country. However, as a judicial institution, the ICC lacks a police force or any other means to enforce such arrests. Consequently, the ICC depends on cooperation from countries worldwide to make arrests, transfer arrested individuals to the ICC detention center in The Hague, freeze their assets, and enforce sentences.