The ICC has been part of the global justice system since 2002. It has the authority to prosecute individuals accused of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes on the territory of member states of the Rome Statute, its founding treaty.
Israel is not a member of the ICC and refuses its jurisdiction, but in 2021 the court ruled that it has jurisdiction over the occupied West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza because the UN secretary general accepted the Palestinians’ accession to the Rome Statute.
In May, Interior Ministry prosecutor Karim Khan requested warrants for Netanyahu, Galant, Deif and two other Hamas leaders who have since been killed, Ismail Haniyeh and Yahya Sinwar.
Although Israel believes that Daif is dead, the chamber said that the prosecutor’s office of the Interior Ministry said that it was unable to determine whether he was killed or survived.
The prosecutor’s case against them is related to the events of October 7, 2023, when Hamas militants attacked southern Israel, killing about 1,200 people and taking 251 people back to Gaza as hostages.
Israel responded to the attack by launching a military campaign to eliminate Hamas, which has killed at least 44,000 people in Gaza, according to the Hamas-ruled territory’s health ministry.
For the deaf, externalthe chamber found reasonable grounds to believe that he was “responsible for crimes against humanity in the form of murder; extermination; torture; as well as rape and other forms of sexual violence; as well as war crimes in the form of murder, ill-treatment, torture; taking hostages; insults to personal dignity; as well as rape and other forms of sexual violence.”
It also said there were reasonable grounds to believe that the crimes against humanity were “part of a widespread and systematic attack by Hamas and other armed groups against the Israeli civilian population.”
For Netanyahu and Galant, externalwho was replaced as Secretary of Defense earlier this month, the chamber found reasonable grounds to believe that “each of them is criminally responsible for the following crimes as accomplices for committing acts in concert with others: the war crime of starvation as a method of warfare; and crimes against humanity in the form of murder, persecution and other inhumane acts.’
He also found reasonable grounds to believe that “each is criminally responsible as a civilian superior for the war crime of an intentional attack on a civilian population.”
The Israeli Prime Minister’s Office said Israel “totally rejects the false and absurd accusations of the International Criminal Court.”
He denounced the ICC decision as anti-Semitic and a “modern Dreyfus trial” that would “end the same way” – a reference to the wrongful conviction of a Jewish army officer on trumped-up treason charges in 19th-century France that sparked a national crisis.
“Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will not give in to pressure. It will continue to pursue all the goals Israel has set for itself in its just war against Hamas and the Iranian axis of terror,” the statement added.
There was no immediate reaction from Gallant. But in May he strongly rejected requests by the Interior Ministry prosecutor for an arrest warrant, saying they drew a “disgusting” parallel between Israel and Hamas and tried to deny his country the right to self-defense.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog called the chamber’s decision “outrageous” and said that the ICC “turned universal justice into a universal laughing stock.”
“The decision chose the side of terror and evil over democracy and freedom, and turned the justice system itself into a human shield for Hamas’ crimes against humanity,” he added.
Hamas welcomed the warrants against Netanyahu and Galant, saying it “sets an important historical precedent and corrects a long course of historical injustice against our people.”
He also called on countries around the world to enforce the warrants and work to stop what he called “crimes of genocide against defenseless civilians in the Gaza Strip.”
Israel categorically denies that its forces are committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.
