Bucharest, May 20, 2024 – RBJ (Source: Agerpres) – The chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), Karim Khan, requested this court on Monday to issue arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, and of the leaders of the Hamas group, the DPA and EFE agencies report.
Among the Hamas leaders targeted are the head of the group, Yahya Sinwar, the commander of the al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, Mohammed Diab Ibrahim al-Masri, and the head of the political office of Hamas, Ismail Haniyeh.
Karim Khan holds these Hamas leaders “criminally” responsible for “war crimes and crimes against humanity” committed since at least October 7, 2023, including the “assassination of hundreds of Israeli civilians” and the “taking of at least 245 hostages.” in the armed incursion by the Palestinian Islamist group into southern Israel on October 7.
The same prosecutor requests arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in the Gaza Strip starting at least from October 8, the date of the launch of the Israeli military operation in the Palestinian enclave to annihilate the Hamas movement.
According to prosecutor Karim Khan, the Israeli prime minister and his defense minister resorted to “intentional killings” and starvation of the Palestinian civilian population as a “method of war”.
The requests for the issuance of these arrest warrants presented to the judges on Monday are “the result of an independent and impartial investigation” by the prosecutor Karim Khan’s office, he argues.
The international tribunal based in The Hague has been investigating allegations of alleged war crimes committed by Israeli troops and Palestinian militias since 2014. But Israel does not recognize the authority of this international court for investigations in the occupied Palestinian territories, and American congressmen have threatened the ICC with reprisals if it issues arrest warrants against Israeli politicians.
This court investigates cases of violations of international humanitarian law. In one such case, Russian President Vladimir Putin is targeted by an international arrest warrant issued last March by the ICC after thousands of children from Ukrainian territories occupied by the Russian army were taken to Russia without being displaced by the war .
