The Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Karim Khan, has announced his intention to pursue arrest warrants for several individuals, including Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar. Khan alleges that these leaders, along with Israel’s Defence Minister Yoav Gallant and three other Hamas leaders, namely Mohammed Deif, and Ismail Haniyeh, have committed war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Amongst other alleged crimes, a statement issued by the ICC accused Netanyahu and Gallant of using starvation of civilians as a method of warfare and “intentionally directing attacks against a civilian population as a war crime”.
Sinwar, Al-Masri and Haniyeh were accused of murder as a crime against humanity, acts of sexual violence and taking hostages as a war crime.
Khan has said that there is ground to believe the men involved bear responsibility for war crimes from the start of Israel’s military action in Gaza.
He added that “the effects of the use of starvation as a method of warfare, together with other attacks and collective punishment against the civilian population of Gaza, are acute, visible and widely known.” He also said that Hamas’s actions on 7 October “demand accountability”.
The ICC — which is based in The Hague — has been investigating Israel’s actions in Gaza for the past three years.