Gaza War: ICC Prosecutor Seeks Israeli Prime Minister, Netanyahu, Hamas Leaders’ Arrest

The chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), has requested arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Hamas’s leader in Gaza, Ismail Haniyeh, for war crimes, citing reasonable grounds to believe that both men bear criminal responsibility for war crimes and crimes against humanity dating back to at least 7 October 2023.

According to the BBC, the ICC, headquartered in The Hague, has been conducting investigations into Israel’s actions in the occupied territories for the past three years and, more recently, into the actions of Hamas as well.

Netanyahu has expressed strong opposition to the idea of senior Israeli figures being added to the ICC’s list of wanted individuals, calling it “an outrage of historic proportions.”

Last week, 13 Western countries, including the United Kingdom, Germany, Japan, Italy, and others, warned Israel against its plans to launch a full-scale operation in Rafah.

However, ICC Prosecutor, Karim Khan, has requested the arrest of the leaders from both sides of the warning zones.