ICC issues arrest warrants for Benjamin Netanyahu over Gaza ‘war crimes’

The context: Israel invaded Gaza after Hamas’s terror attack on 7 October 2023, when 1,200 Israelis were killed and more than 200 kidnapped.

The warrants come amid increasing global scrutiny of Israel's ensuing actions in Gaza, where the Hamas-run health authority reports over 44,000 Palestinians killed amid widespread destruction and humanitarian crises, drawing accusations of war crimes.

The court noted that Gaza's humanitarian crisis, including deaths from starvation, partly stems from Israeli restrictions on aid, which it deemed unjustified under international law.

The warrants, issued after the court prosecutor requested them in May, place Netanyahu and Gallant at risk of arrest if they travel to one of the ICC’s 124 member states, which includes most European countries and Canada, but not the US.

Israel rejected the accusations as "absurd and false," with Netanyahu's office saying he will not retreat from the war’s objectives.

What they said: The full contents of the arrest warrants are classified as secret, but in a statement, the ICC said it: "found that the alleged crimes against humanity were part of a widespread and systematic attack against the civilian population of Gaza," it said.

"The Chamber also found reasonable grounds to believe that Mr Netanyahu and Mr Gallant each bear criminal responsibility as civilian superiors for the war crime of intentionally directing an attack against the civilian population.

"There are reasonable grounds to believe that both individuals intentionally and knowingly deprived the civilian population in Gaza of objects indispensable to their survival, including food, water, and medicine and medical supplies, as well as fuel and electricity, from at least 8 October 2023 to 20 May 2024. This finding is based on the role of Mr Netanyahu and Mr Gallant in impeding humanitarian aid in violation of international humanitarian law and their failure to facilitate relief by all means at its disposal.

In a statement, Netanyahu’s office responded that “Israel rejects the absurd and false actions and accusations by the ICC. No anti-Israel decision will prevent Israel from protecting its citizens. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will not surrender to the pressures... He will not recoil or withdraw until all of the war’s goals — that were set at the start of the battle — are achieved.”

The US, not an ICC signatory, condemned the warrants and questioned the ICC’s jurisdiction, while human rights groups praised the move.

“The United States fundamentally rejects the court’s decision to issue arrest warrants for senior Israeli officials,” the a spokesman for the US National Security Council said in a statement. “We remain deeply concerned by the prosecutor’s rush to seek arrest warrants and the troubling process errors that led to this decision.”

Representative Michael Waltz, who Trump has chosen as his national security adviser, responded to the ICC’s announcement by saying the court had “no credibility.”

“'You can expect a strong response to the anti-Semitic bias of the ICC' in January, when Trump enters office," Waltz posted on X.

Yonatan Shamriz, whose brother was accidentally killed by Israeli forces last December, called the warrants a "difficult decision" and argued they could have been avoided with a credible national inquiry. Meanwhile, the Israeli human rights group B’Tselem supported the warrants, calling them a necessary step for accountability and justice.

“Personal accountability for decision makers is a key element in the struggle for justice and freedom for all human beings living between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea,” it said.