By Kolawole Ojebisi
In a seeming even-handed approach towards finding a solution to the war between Israel and Palestine, the International Criminal Court on Thursday issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, and Hamas’s military chief, Mohammed Deif.
“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,” the Hague-based ICC said in a statement.
A warrant was also issued for Deif, it added. The arrest warrants had been classified as “secret” to protect witnesses and 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.”
Recall that ICC Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan had requested the court to issue arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant in May over alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
Netanyahu sacked Gallant as Defence Minister on 5 November.
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 on 2 August “because of the changed circumstances caused by Mr. Haniyeh’s death” in Tehran on 31 July, the ICC said in a statement.
According to Israel, Deif was killed by a strike on 13 July in southern Gaza, though Hamas denies he is dead.
Since Hamas conducted its attack on 7 October 2023, the deadliest in Israeli history, Israel has been engaged in a war with Gaza, which the militant group controls.
The war was triggered by a cross-border raid by Hamas militants that resulted in the deaths of 1,206 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.
The Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza reported on Thursday that at least 44,056 people had been killed in over 13 months of war between Israel and Palestinian militants.
The toll includes 71 deaths in the previous 24 hours, with the ministry adding that 104,268 people had been wounded in Gaza since the war began.
Meanwhile, some observers of international politics and conflict management have dismissed the move as mere “cosmetic approach” that will not yield any meaningful results towarda bringing lasting peace to the war-torn region.
They noted that some of the political actors, particularly Netanyahu is “too big and powerful”, with the backing of the US, to be arrested.
