THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — The chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court on Friday called on judges to rule “swiftly” on his request for arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and others with ties to the War between Israel and Hamasstating that the court has jurisdiction.
“It is an established fact that the court has jurisdiction in this situation,” prosecutor Karim Khan wrote in a 49-page legal argument.
Khan called on a panel of ICC judges to “decide expeditiously” on requests he filed in May for arrest warrants against Netanyahu, his defense minister Yoav Gallant and three Hamas leaders, two of whom have since been killed.
The summary proceedings filed by Khan came in response to legal arguments filed by dozens of countries, academics, victims’ groups and human rights organizations, rejecting or supporting the court’s authority to issue arrest warrants as part of the investigation into the Gaza war and the October 7 Hamas attacks in Israel.
In his request for arrest warrants in May, Khan accused Netanyahu, Gallant and three Hamas leaders – Yehya Sinwar, Mohammed Deif and Ismail Haniyeh – of war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Gaza Strip and Israel.
Haniyeh and Deif have since been killed. Sinwar, the top Hamas official in Gaza who planned the October 7 attacks, was subsequently appointed as new leader of the group.
Netanyahu called the prosecutor’s charges against him a “disgrace” and an attack on the Israeli military and all of Israel. He vowed to continue Israel’s war against Hamas. Hamas also condemned Khan’s actions, saying the call to arrest its leaders “equated the victim with the executioner.”
Israel is not a member of the court, so even if the arrest warrants are issued, Netanyahu and Gallant would not be at immediate risk of prosecution. But the threat of arrest could make it difficult for Israeli leaders to travel abroad.
The war began on October 7, when Hamas and other militants stormed Israel, killing about 1,200 people — mostly civilians — and kidnapping about 250. About 110 hostages remain in Gaza, a third of whom are presumed dead. The Israeli offensive was launched in response has killed more than 40,000 Palestinians in Gaza, the local health ministry said. The ministry did not say how many were militants or civilians.
Much of the legal arguments filed before the ICC judges in recent weeks have focused largely on whether the court’s authority to issue warrants for Israeli leaders is overridden by a provision of the 1993 Oslo peace deal. As part of the deal, the Palestinians agreed that they have no criminal jurisdiction over Israeli citizens.
Khan insisted that the argument that the deals could nullify the court’s jurisdiction is “baseless”.
He called the legal argument “inconsistent with the proper interpretation and application” of an article in the Rome Statute that allowed for the court’s creation, and “mistakes basic concepts of jurisdiction under international law, including the law of occupation, and how these concepts relate to the interpretation and application of the Statute.”
It is not yet clear when judges will rule on Khan’s request for a search warrant.
