The chief prosecutor at the International Criminal Court (ICC) has announced he is seeking arrest warrants for the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, as well as several Hamas leaders over alleged war crimes.
ICC prosecutor Karim Khan KC issued a statement yesterday proposing that arrest warrants are issued for Mr Netanyahu, Israel’s defence minister Yoav Gallant, Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, Mohammed al-Masri (also known as Mohammed Deif), Hamas’s military chief, and Ismail Haniyeh, Hamas’s political leader.
It marks the first time in ICC history that a sitting head of state and a sitting defence minister of a country supported by other powerful Western states, including the UK and US, face arrest warrants, international law experts have told The Independent. The move comes after weeks of Israel’s staunchest allies calling for restraint in its war in Gaza, particularly around the invasion of the southern Gaza city of Rafah, where more than a million Palestinians fled to avoid being caught up in the earlier stages of Israel’s attacks.
The charges against Mr Netanyahu and Mr Gallant, two of the three core members of Israel’s war cabinet, include “starvation of civilians as a method of warfare … intentionally directing attacks against a civilian population … wilfully causing great suffering … persecution as a crime against humanity … [and] extermination and/or murder.”
A panel of ICC judges will now consider Mr Khan’s application for the arrest warrants.
This story is from the May 21, 2024 edition of The Independent.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the May 21, 2024 edition of The Independent.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
Djokovic faces monumental task at the Australian Open
Novak Djokovic could play Carlos Alcaraz in the quarter-finals of the Australian Open and may also have to face world No 2 Alexander Zverev and world No 1 Jannik Sinner if he is to win a 25th grand slam title in Melbourne.
Potter's West Ham gamble is a make-or-break moment
Doubts remain over new Hammers man after Chelsea failure
'Woody told us all week we would get Newcastle away!'
After more than a century in the lower tiers, League Two side Bromley FC are finally in the spotlight with their FA Cup tie
Ambitious Everton look for upgrade on the Dyche grind
Sean Dyche was never the manager Everton really wanted.
Everton ease to FA Cup win as team reboot starts
They are not used to cheering the men in the technical area.
THE ART OF NOISE
Alt-popper Ethel Cain lashes listeners with sound on her experimental second LP, 'Perverts'. Helen Brown submits
Kidman is utterly fearless in unabashedly sexy 'Babygirl'
Dutch writer-director Halina Reijn has made a BDSM film rife with fumbling uncertainty, and comedy-drama 'A Real Pain' manages to stay honest,
The secret shame that saw Callas retreat into obscurity
She was the opera diva with a tumultuous and tragic private life but something else would derail her career as one of the greatest singers of all time, as Meghan Lloyd Davies explains
At home with Gen Zzzzz
Being boring has never been more in - but Kate Rossiensky wonders if the humblebore lifestyle is a deflection technique
PLAYING DUMB
As the thoroughly decent (and rather smart) Kasim is ejected from 'The Traitors', Helen Coffey asks whether intelligence has become a hindrance that should be concealed at all costs
