ICC orders arrest of Netanyahu and Galant on war crimes charges.. Palestinian factions welcome

The International Criminal Court has issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Galant, saying there are "reasonable grounds" to believe they committed war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Gaza Strip.

The court added in a statement on Thursday that "there is reason to believe that Netanyahu and Galant supervised attacks on the civilian population."

She said that the war crimes attributed to Netanyahu and Galant include the use of starvation as a weapon of war, as well as crimes against humanity, such as murder, persecution, and other inhumane acts.

The court confirmed that Israel's acceptance of the court's jurisdiction was not necessary, and considered that disclosing these arrest warrants was in the victims' interest.

In addition to Netanyahu and Galant, the International Criminal Court also issued an arrest warrant for the commander of the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of the Palestinian resistance movement (Hamas), Mohammed Deif.

Netanyahu and other Israeli leaders have condemned the ICC's decision to issue arrest warrants for him and Galant, calling it shameful and anti-Semitic.

Hamas welcomes

The Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) welcomed on Thursday the issuance by the International Criminal Court of two arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Galant on charges of committing war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Hamas said in a statement, "This step, which the American administration, which is complicit in the Zionist war crimes, has tried to obstruct for months by terrorizing the court and its judges and trying to dissuade it from performing its duty to hold the occupation accountable for its ongoing crimes in the Gaza Strip, constitutes an important historical precedent."

In turn, the Fatah movement considered the issuance of the arrest warrants against Netanyahu and Galant "a courageous step in confronting the crimes and serious violations committed by the occupation government."

In a statement received by Anadolu Agency, the movement's spokesman, Abdel Fattah Dawla, praised "the decision of the International Criminal Court (...) as a courageous step in confronting the crimes and serious violations committed by the occupation government against our Palestinian people."

The State considered the decision a "victory for international justice and human rights, and confirms that the policy of impunity is no longer possible in the face of the will of peoples and international judicial institutions."

He pointed out that "the issuance of these memoranda reflects a growing international consensus to hold the occupation leaders accountable for their crimes, and constitutes a clear message that the era of absolute immunity is over."

The spokesman also called on the international community "to emerge from the state of silence and helplessness and take practical steps to translate this decision into reality, and to pressure for the implementation of these memoranda to ensure justice for our Palestinian people, and to put an end to the ongoing crimes of the occupation."

Secretary-General of the National Initiative, Mustafa Barghouti, in a statement received by Anadolu Agency, welcomed the court's decision and called for "expediting the issuance of its ruling on Israel's commission of the crime of genocide in Gaza."

He added, "Many Western governments should arrest Netanyahu and Galant after the decision, and choose between their shameful bias towards Israel and their respect for international law and the charter of the International Criminal Court, which they signed."

On May 20, ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan announced in a statement that he was seeking to issue arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Galant on charges of “war crimes.”

Khan also asked the court again last August to quickly issue arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Galant.

With American support, Israel has been committing genocide in Gaza since October 7, 2023, leaving more than 148,000 Palestinians dead and wounded, most of them children and women, and more than 10,000 missing, amid massive destruction and famine that killed dozens of children and the elderly, in one of the worst humanitarian disasters in the world.

In parallel with the war of extermination on Gaza, the Israeli army expanded its operations and the settlers escalated their attacks in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, leaving 795 Palestinians dead and about 6,450 others injured, according to Anadolu Agency correspondent monitoring based on official Palestinian data.

Source: Agencies