International Criminal Court issues arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister

The International Criminal Court has issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, and a senior Hamas official, accusing them of war crimes during and after the October 7 attacks on Israel last year.

In a statement on Thursday, the Netherlands-based court said it found “reasonable grounds” to believe that Netanyahu bears criminal responsibility for war crimes including “starvation as a method of warfare” and “the crimes against humanity of murder, persecution, and other inhumane acts.”

The warrants mark a historic first, making Netanyahu the first Israeli leader summoned by an international court for alleged actions against Palestinians in the 75-year conflict. While ICC warrants don’t guarantee arrests, they could significantly restrict Netanyahu’s ability to travel to ICC member states.

The prime minister’s office dismissed the warrants as “absurd and antisemitic.”

“Israel utterly rejects the absurd and false actions and accusations against it by the International Criminal Court, which is a politically biased and discriminatory body,” his office said, adding that there is “no war more just… after the Hamas terrorist organization launched a murderous attack against it, carrying out the largest massacre against the Jewish people since the Holocaust.”

Netanyahu “will not yield to pressure, will not back down, and will not retreat until all the goals of the war set by Israel at the start of the campaign are achieved,” it said.

Israel, like the United States, is not a member of the ICC and has challenged the court’s jurisdiction over its actions in the conflict – a challenge the court rejected on Thursday. The ICC claims jurisdiction over territories Israel occupies, including Gaza, East Jerusalem, and the West Bank, following the Palestinian leadership’s formal agreement to be bound by the court’s founding principles in 2015.

The court on Thrusday also issued a warrant for Hamas official Mohammed Diab Ibrahim Al-Masri, also known as Mohammed Deif, who Israel says was one of the masterminds of the October 7 attack, Israel said it killed him in an airstrike in September but Hamas hasn’t confirmed his death.

The ICC said it found “reasonable grounds” to believe that Deif was responsible for “crimes against humanity, including murder, extermination, torture, and rape and other form of sexual violence, as well as the war crimes of murder, cruel treatment, torture, taking hostages, outrages upon personal dignity, and rape and other form of sexual violence.”

Deif bears “criminal responsibility” for these crimes, the court said, having “committed the acts jointly and through others… having ordered or induced the commission of the crimes,” and for failing to “exercise proper control over forces under his effective command and control.”

The court added that there are “reasonable grounds to believe that the crimes against humanity were part of a widespread and systematic attack directed by Hamas and other armed groups against the civilian population of Israel.”

Israeli condemnation

A number of Israeli politicians condemned the court’s decision to issue arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant.

President Isaac Herzog described the warrants as “a dark day for justice. A dark day for humanity.”

He said in a statement on X that “the outrageous decision at the ICC has turned universal justice into a universal laughing stock. It makes a mockery of the sacrifice of all those who fight for justice.”

He added that the decision “ignores the basic fact that Israel was barbarically attacked and has the duty and right to defend its people. It ignores the fact that Israel is a vibrant democracy, acting under international humanitarian law, and going to great lengths to provide for the humanitarian needs of the civilian population.”

Recently appointed Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar said the ICC acted as a political tool serving the most extreme elements working to undermine peace, security, and stability in the Middle East.”

“From an ethical perspective, this is a moral aberration that turns good into evil and serves the forces of evil,” he said. “From a diplomatic perspective, issuing orders against a country acting according to international law is a reward and encouragement for the axis of evil (of Iran-led groups), which flagrantly and consistently violates it.”

Far-right Minister of National Security Itamar Ben Gvir condemned the ICC as “antisemitic from start to finish,” adding that Israel should respond by “applying sovereignty” to the occupied West Bank and building Jewish settlements in all the territories under Israel’s control.

Gallant served as defense minister until this month, when Netanyahu fired him after months of clashes over domestic politics and Israel’s war effort. The prime minister said at the time that “trust between me and the minister of defense has cracked.” Katz, who served as foreign minister until then, became defense minister.

What happens next?

Eliav Lieblich, a professor of international law at Tel Aviv University, described the ICC’s decision as “the most dramatic legal development in Israel’s history.”

There may also be wider implications, he added, which “could limit the ability of third parties to cooperate with” the Israeli military.

After an arrest warrant has been issued, the ICC sends requests for cooperation to member states. The court does not have a police force of its own to make the arrests, but relies on member states to execute them, which state parties are legally obliged to do.

Previous leaders who have been faced with ICC arrest warrants have experienced limitations on their ability to travel, unable to pass through countries legally obliged to arrest them.

This is a developing story and will be updated.