JERUSALEM (AP) — The chief prosecutor of the world’s prime battle crimes court docket sought arrest warrants Monday for leaders of Israel and Hamas, together with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, over actions taken throughout their seven-month battle.
Whereas Netanyahu and his protection minister, Yoav Gallant, don’t face imminent arrest, the announcement by the Worldwide Prison Court docket’s chief prosecutor was a symbolic blow that deepened Israel’s isolation over the battle in Gaza.
The court docket’s prosecutor, Karim Khan, accused Netanyahu, Gallant, and three Hamas leaders — Yehya Sinwar, Mohammed Deif and Ismail Haniyeh — of war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Gaza Strip and Israel.
Netanyahu and different Israeli leaders condemned the transfer as disgraceful and antisemitic. U.S. President Joe Biden additionally lambasted the prosecutor and supported Israel’s proper to defend itself towards Hamas.
AP Washington correspondent Sagar Meghani reviews the U.S. is blasting a transfer by the world’s prime prison court docket to hunt arrest warrants for Israeli and Hamas leaders.
A panel of three judges will determine whether or not to challenge the arrest warrants and permit a case to proceed. The judges usually take two months to make such choices.
Israel just isn’t a member of the court docket, so even when the arrest warrants are issued, Netanyahu and Gallant don’t face any speedy threat of prosecution. However the specter of arrest might make it tough for the Israeli leaders to journey overseas.
Netanyahu known as the prosecutor’s accusations towards him a “shame,” and an assault on the Israeli navy and all of Israel. He vowed to press forward with Israel’s battle towards Hamas.
Biden mentioned the hassle to arrest Netanyahu and Gallant over the battle in Gaza was “outrageous,” including “no matter this prosecutor may indicate, there isn’t any equivalence — none — between Israel and Hamas.”
Hamas additionally denounced the ICC prosecutor’s actions, saying the request to arrest its leaders “equates the sufferer with the executioner.”
Netanyahu has come beneath heavy strain at house to finish the battle. 1000’s of Israelis have joined weekly demonstrations calling on the federal government to achieve a deal to convey house Israeli hostages in Hamas captivity, fearing that point is operating out.
In current days, the 2 different members of his battle Cupboard, Gallant and Benny Gantz, have threatened to resign if Netanyahu doesn’t spell out a transparent postwar imaginative and prescient for Gaza.
However on Monday, Netanyahu acquired wall-to-wall assist as politicians throughout the spectrum condemned the ICC prosecutor’s transfer. They included Israel’s president, Isaac Herzog, and his two most important political rivals, Gantz and opposition chief Yair Lapid.
It’s unclear what impact Khan’s transfer can have on Netanyahu’s public standing. The potential for an arrest warrant towards Netanyahu might give him a lift as Israelis rally behind the flag. However his opponents might additionally blame him for bringing a diplomatic disaster on the nation.
Yuval Shany, an knowledgeable on worldwide regulation at Hebrew College and the Israel Democracy Institute, a Jerusalem suppose tank, mentioned it was way more sure that Netanyahu’s already troubled worldwide standing may very well be additional weakened.
“That is going to make Netanyahu an outcast, and his means to maneuver around the globe shall be severely compromised,” mentioned Shany. Even when the ICC doesn’t challenge the arrest warrant, different nations could now be extra reluctant to supply assist and help, he mentioned.
Hamas is already thought of a global terrorist group by the West. Each Sinwar and Deif are believed to be hiding in Gaza. However Haniyeh, the supreme chief of the Islamic militant group, is predicated in Qatar and ceaselessly travels throughout the area. Qatar, like Israel, just isn’t a member of the ICC.
The newest battle between Israel and Hamas started on Oct. 7, when militants from Gaza crossed into Israel and killed some 1,200 folks, largely civilians, and took 250 others hostage.
Since then, Israel has waged a brutal marketing campaign to dismantle Hamas in Gaza. Greater than 35,000 Palestinians have been killed within the preventing, not less than half of them ladies and kids, in accordance with the most recent estimates by Gaza well being officers.
The battle has triggered a humanitarian disaster in Gaza, displacing roughly 80% of the inhabitants and leaving lots of of 1000’s of individuals getting ready to hunger, in accordance with U.N. officers.
Talking of the Israeli actions, Khan mentioned “the consequences of using hunger as a technique of warfare, along with different assaults and collective punishment towards the civilian inhabitants of Gaza are acute, seen and broadly recognized.”
The United Nations and different help businesses have repeatedly accused Israel of hindering help deliveries all through the battle. Israel denies this, saying there are not any restrictions on help getting into Gaza and accusing the U.N. of failing to distribute help.
Of the Hamas actions on Oct. 7, Khan, who visited the area in December, mentioned that he noticed for himself “the devastating scenes of those assaults and the profound impression of the unconscionable crimes.”
Of their rampage, Hamas militants gunned down scores of revelers at a dance get together and killed complete households as they huddled of their properties. “These acts demand accountability,” Khan mentioned.
Worldwide human rights lawyer Amal Clooney served on a five-member knowledgeable panel that suggested Khan. She mentioned the panel had agreed unanimously that there are “affordable grounds” to consider that each the Hamas and Israeli leaders had dedicated battle crimes, in accordance with an announcement.
South Africa, which has been main a genocide case towards Israel on the U.N. world court docket, welcomed Khan’s announcement looking for the arrest of Israeli and Hamas leaders. “The regulation have to be utilized equally to all in an effort to uphold the worldwide rule of regulation,” the workplace of President Cyril Ramaphosa mentioned.
The ICC was established in 2002 because the everlasting court docket of final resort to prosecute people accountable for the world’s most heinous atrocities — battle crimes, crimes towards humanity, genocide and the crime of aggression.
The U.N. Common Meeting endorsed the ICC, however the court docket is impartial.
Dozens of nations don’t settle for the court docket’s jurisdiction over battle crimes, genocide and different crimes. They embrace Israel, the US, Russia and China.
The ICC accepted “The State of Palestine” as a member in 2015, a 12 months after the Palestinians accepted the court docket’s jurisdiction.
In 2020, then U.S. President Donald Trump authorized economic and travel sanctions on the ICC prosecutor and one other senior prosecutor. The ICC employees had been wanting into U.S. and allies’ troops for possible war crimes in Afghanistan. Biden lifted the sanctions in 2021.
Final 12 months, the court docket issued a warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin on expenses of duty for the abductions of kids from Ukraine. Russia responded by issuing its personal arrest warrants for Khan and ICC judges.
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AP journalists Molly Quell in Delft, Netherlands, and Mike Corder in Ede, Netherlands, contributed to this report.
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Observe AP’s battle protection at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war
