- “No pressure From Any International Forum Will Prevent Us From Striking those Who Seek to Destroy Us,” Netanyahu
- “The Move By The ICC Prosecutor Is outrageous”, US President Biden
By Abiola Olawale
The prosecutors of the International Criminal Court have filed a lawsuit seeking the issuance of arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu and Hamas leader in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar over charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity over the October 7 attacks on Israel and the subsequent war in Gaza.
The court’s prosecutor Karim Khan made this revelation while speaking with the press on Monday.
Khan disclosed that the ICC’s prosecution team is also seeking warrants against Israel’s Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, as well as two other top Hamas leaders — Mohammed Diab Ibrahim al-Masri, the leader of the Al Qassem Brigades who is better known as Mohammed Deif, and Ismail Haniyeh, Hamas’ political leader.
Khan said the prosecutor is seeking an arrest warrant against Sinwar, Haniyeh and al-Masri over alleged charges which include “extermination, murder, taking of hostages, rape and sexual assault in detention.”
He said: “The world was shocked on the 7th of October when people were ripped from their bedrooms, from their homes, from the different kibbutzim in Israel.”
Reacting to the development, Netanyahu called the decision a “travesty of justice” adding that the ICC’s decision “will not stop us from waging our just war against Hamas.”
Netanyahu said: “As prime minister of Israel, I reject with disgust the Hague prosecutor’s comparison between democratic Israel and the mass murderers of Hamas.
“With what audacity do you compare Hamas that murdered, burned, butchered, decapitated, raped and kidnapped our brothers and sisters and the IDF soldiers fighting a just war.
“No pressure and no decision in any international forum will prevent us from striking those who seek to destroy us.”
Also, US President Joe Biden, in his reaction said the move by the ICC prosecutor was “outrageous”.
He said: “Let me be clear: whatever this prosecutor might imply, there is no equivalence – none – between Israel and Hamas.”
Responding to the announcement by Khan, Hamas said in a statement that it “strongly condemns the attempts of the ICC Prosecutor to equate victims with aggressors by issuing arrest warrants against several Palestinian resistance leaders without legal basis.”
“Hamas calls on the ICC Prosecutor to issue arrest warrants against all war criminals among the occupation leaders, officers, and soldiers who participated in crimes against the Palestinian people, and demands the cancellation of all arrest warrants issued against Palestinian resistance leaders,” the group added.
