The International Criminal Court (ICC) logo is displayed on a smartphone screen.
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The International Criminal Court is seeking arrest warrants for three leaders of the Palestinian militant group Hamas and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on suspicion of war related to the October 7 terror attack in Israel and the ongoing conflict in the Gaza Strip crimes and crimes against humanity.
The ICC said in a statement on Monday that the goal was to gain access to evidence against Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, the group’s political bureau chief Ismail Haniyeh and the commander-in-chief of the Qassam Brigades, Hamas’s military arm. Arrest warrant for Mohamed Diab Ibrahim al-Masri.
Three Hamas leaders are being sought for alleged crimes, including murder, hostage-taking and sexual abuse, during the October 7 Hamas terror attacks against Israel.
The ICC has also requested arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yov Galante for crimes committed since October during Israel’s retaliatory campaign against the Gaza Strip. Charged crimes include starvation, murder and persecution of civilians.
Israel says its incursion into Rafah earlier this month deepened its offensive in the Gaza enclave and was aimed at wiping out Hamas rather than civilians.
According to the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office, more than 1,200 people have been killed in Israel since October, while the Palestinian Health Ministry said more than 35,000 people have been killed in the Gaza Strip during the same period.
Israel’s Foreign Ministry declined to comment at this time.
“Historical crime”
Netanyahu heralds ICC filing in report on potential search warrant said in a speech Earlier this month, “this step will bring an indelible stain on the ideas of justice and international law” and is a distortion of history and justice.
Israel is simultaneously defending genocide charges and attempts to limit its Gaza operations at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, which last week heard South Africa’s request for an urgent halt to Israeli operations in Rafah.
“Accepting the prosecutor’s position would be a historical crime that will not disappear,” Israeli War Cabinet Minister Benny Gantz said on Monday, referring to the arrest warrant application. social media postsAdding that it would put “the leader of a country fighting to protect its citizens on the same side as bloodthirsty terrorists”.
The International Criminal Court’s decision to issue arrest warrants for three Hamas leaders “equates victims with executioners,” senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri told Reuters on Monday.
The arrest warrant application has been submitted to the ICC Pre-Trial Chamber for review to determine whether the charges can be confirmed. The document marks a rare international judicial intrusion against the leadership of a government aligned with the United States, which, like Israel, is not a party to the ICC.international criminal court hold It has jurisdiction over the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, including east Jerusalem.
Last year, the ICC issued arrest warrants for Russian President Vladimir Putin and Russia’s children’s rights commissioner Maria Lvova-Belova for illegally expelling and transferring children from occupied territories in Ukraine during Moscow’s war against Ukraine. Russia.
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