The International Criminal Court (ICC) on Thursday issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, his former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant and Hamas’s military chief Mohammed Deif on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
The ICC’s 124 national members would now be obliged to arrest him on their territory.
However, former Nigerian Ambassador to Ethiopia, Ambassador Bulus Lolo, said the warrant will be difficult to implement.
The Hague-based ICC said in a statement: “The Chamber issued warrants of arrest for two individuals, Mr Benjamin Netanyahu and Mr Yoav Gallant, for crimes against humanity and war crimes committed from at least 8 October 2023 until at least 20 May 2024, the day the Prosecution filed the applications for warrants of arrest.”
Israel said in early August it had killed Deif in an air strike in southern Gaza in July, although Hamas denies he is dead.
The arrest warrants had been classified as “secret”, to protect witnesses and to safeguard the conduct of the investigations, the court said.
“However, the Chamber decided to release the information below since conduct similar to that addressed in the warrant of arrest appears to be ongoing,” the tribunal said.
“Moreover, the Chamber considers it to be in the interest of victims and their families that they are made aware of the warrants’ existence.”
ICC chief prosecutor Karim Khan in May requested the court issue arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant over alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
Netanyahu sacked Gallant as defence minister on November 5.
Khan also sought warrants against top Hamas leaders including Mohammed Deif on suspicion of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
The prosecutor dropped the application for Ismail Haniyeh, the group’s political leader, on August 2 “because of the changed circumstances caused by Mr Haniyeh’s death” in Tehran on July 31, the ICC earlier said in a statement.
Since Hamas conducted its October 7, 2023 attack, the deadliest in Israeli history, Israel has been fighting a war in Gaza, which the militant group rules.
The war was triggered by the assault on Israel by Hamas militants, a stunning cross-border raid that resulted in the deaths of 1,206 people, mostly civilians, according to Israeli official figures.
The Hamas government’s health ministry in the Gaza Strip said Thursday that at least 44,056 people had been killed in more than 13 months of war between Israel and Palestinian militants.
The toll includes 71 deaths in the previous 24 hours, according to the ministry, which said 104,268 people had been wounded in the Gaza Strip since the war began.
‘Warrants absurd’
Palestinian militant group Hamas has welcomed the ICC’s issuance of arrest warrants for Netanyahu and his former defence minister, calling it an “important step towards justice”.
“It’s an important step towards justice and can lead to redress for the victims in general, but it remains limited and symbolic if it is not supported by all means by all countries around the world,” Hamas political bureau member Bassem Naim said in a statement.
However, Netanyahu accused the ICC of anti-Semitism, calling it “a modern-day Dreyfus trial”.
“The anti-Semitic decision of the International Criminal Court is comparable to the modern-day Dreyfus trial — and it will end in the same way,” Netanyahu said in a statement, referring to the 19th century Alfred Dreyfus affair in which a Jewish army captain was wrongly convicted of treason in France.
Also, Israel’s Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said that the International Criminal Court had “lost all legitimacy”.
“This is a dark moment for the ICC,” Saar wrote on social media platform X, adding: “The body calling itself a ‘court’ issued absurd orders without authority… even though Israel is not a member of the court.”
On his part, a former Nigerian Ambassador to Ethiopia, Ambassador Bulus Lolo, said the warrant on Netanyahu would be very difficult to implement since Israel is not a party to the ICC, adding that: “Extending jurisdiction over a party that has not subscribed to your rule will be extremely difficult”.
“The United States which is also backing Israel is not a party and it has veto power at the United Nations Security Council and in international geopolitics today, the only global body that can have its ruling implemented through the use of force is the UN Security Council.
“Working under the guidance of the security council, the court can sometimes make rulings, but in this case, the court is touching a baby that is not touchable. I doubt if the ruling will go beyond a symbolic significance,” Amb. Lolo stressed.