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Amid a wave of demonstrations in Israel on Monday, demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, as well as early elections; International Criminal Court (ICC) has said it will seek arrest warrants for him, as well as for his defense minister, Yoav Gallant, and leaders of the extremist group Hamas.
Seven months after the start of the war in the Gaza Strip, tensions are rising, both in the military sphere and in the various demonstrations around the world calling for an immediate ceasefire against the Palestinian population, which as of Tuesday, May 21, has counted 35,647 dead, the majority of them women and children.
“The Israeli occupation has left 85 martyrs and 200 wounded in the past 24 hours,” the enclave’s health ministry said in a statement. “Many people remain trapped under the rubble and on the roads because rescuers cannot reach them.”
In response, Karim AA Khan KC, chief prosecutor of the ICC, said at a conference that, based on the evidence collected and examined by the office he heads, “there are reasonable grounds to believe that Benjamin Netanyahu, Prime Minister of Israel, and Yoav Gallant, Minister of Defense of Israel, bear criminal responsibility for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in the territory of the State of Palestine (in the Gaza Strip) since at least October 8, 2023.”
#ICC Prosecutor @KarimKhanQC announces applications for arrest warrants in relation to Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant in the context of the situation in the State of #Palestine ⤵️https://t.co/WqDZecXFZq pic.twitter.com/bxqLWc5M6u
— Int'l Criminal Court (@IntlCrimCourt) May 20, 2024
The charges they could be found guilty of include starving civilians as a method of warfare as a war crime; intentionally causing great suffering or serious harm to body or health, or cruel treatment as a war crime; and wilful homicide or murder as a war crime.
Likewise, he noted, the intentional directing of attacks against a civilian population is a war crime; extermination and/or murder, even in the context of deaths caused by starvation, is a crime against humanity; persecution is a crime against humanity; and other inhumane acts are crimes against humanity.
“We maintain that the alleged crimes against humanity were committed as part of a widespread and systematic attack against the Palestinian civilian population in accordance with State policy. These crimes, in our view, continue to this day,” Khan said.
The UN maintains that the evidence collected, including interviews with survivors and eyewitnesses, authenticated video, photographs and audio material, satellite images and statements from the alleged perpetrator group, shows that Israel has intentionally and systematically deprived the civilian population in all parts of Gaza of objects indispensable for human survival.
He added that these acts were committed as part of a common plan to use starvation as a method of warfare and other acts of violence against the civilian population of Gaza as a means to eliminate Hamas; to secure the return of the hostages that Hamas has kidnapped; and to collectively punish the civilian population of Gaza, whom they perceived as a threat to Israel.
He explained that the effects of using starvation as a method of warfare, along with other attacks and collective punishments against the civilian population of Gaza, are acute, visible and widely known, and have been confirmed by multiple witnesses interviewed, including local and international doctors. They include malnutrition, dehydration, profound suffering and an increasing number of deaths among the Palestinian population, including infants, other children and women.
“Israel, like all states, has the right to take measures to defend its population. However, that right does not absolve Israel or any state from its obligation to comply with international humanitarian law. Whatever military objectives they may have, the means Israel chose to achieve them in Gaza – namely, intentionally causing death, starvation, great suffering and serious harm to the body or health of the civilian population – are criminal,” the chief prosecutor said.
“Today we underline once again that international law and the laws of armed conflict apply to everyone. No foot soldier, no commander, no civilian leader – no one – can act with impunity. Nothing can justify intentionally depriving human beings, including so many women and children, of the basic necessities of life. Nothing can justify hostage-taking or attacks on civilians,” he added.
In this regard, he said that the independent judges of the International Criminal Court are the sole arbiters who determine whether the necessary standard for issuing arrest warrants has been met.
“If my requests are accepted and the requested orders issued, I will work closely with the Registrar in all efforts to detain the named individuals. I count on all States Parties to the Rome Statute to take these requests and the subsequent judicial decision with the same seriousness as they have shown in other situations, fulfilling their obligations under the Statute. I am also ready to work with non-States Parties in our common quest for accountability,” Karim AA Khan KC made clear.
These possible arrests would be added to those of Yahya Sinwar (head of the Islamic Resistance Movement “Hamas” in the Gaza Strip); Mohammed Diab Ibrahim Al-Masri, better known as DEIF (commander-in-chief of the military wing of Hamas, known as Al-Qassam Brigades) and Ismail Haniyeh (head of the Hamas Political Bureau), for, among other things, extermination as a crime against humanity; murder as a crime against humanity and as a war crime; and taking hostages as a war crime.
In addition to rape and other acts of sexual violence as crimes against humanity, and also as war crimes in the context of captivity; torture and other inhuman acts; cruel treatment and outrages upon personal dignity.
In this regard, the prosecutor reiterated, once again, his call for the immediate release of all hostages taken from Israel and their safe return to their families. “This is a fundamental requirement of international humanitarian law.”
Finally, he said that if the law is not shown to be applied equally, if it is seen to be applied selectively, “we will be creating the conditions for its collapse. In doing so, we will be loosening the remaining bonds that hold us together, the stabilizing connections between all communities and individuals, the safety net to which all victims turn in times of suffering. This is the real risk we face at this moment.”
You may be interested in: “The conflict in Gaza is neither religious nor racial, it is a position based on values”: Camilo Pérez Bustillo, executive director of the National Guild of Lawyers
