It was what the government of Israel he feared, after the rumors that have circulated in recent weeks. Now the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court asked the Pre-Trial Chamber of the Court of Justice The Hague to emit arrest warrants against the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahuand his Minister of Defense, Yoav Gallanton charges of “war crimes And crimes against humanity” committed in Gaza Strip after 8 October 2023. The same request, which however also refers to what happened on 7 October with the massacre committed by Hamasalso reached the head of the armed Palestinian party in the Strip, Yahya Sinwar. Specifically, there are several leaders of the organization cited in the prosecutor’s request Karim Khan. Apart from Sinwar, they also appear in the list Mohammed Deifhead of Ezzedin al-Qassam Brigadesthe armed wing of Hamas, e Ismail Haniyeh, political leader of the party. They too are accused of “war crimes and crimes against humanity” committed in Israel and the Gaza Strip since 7 October 2023. The request has provoked protests from the Israeli leaders, Hamas and also from the States United, with Joe Biden who described it as “shameful”.
In the reasons for the request, Prosecutor Khan accuses Prime Minister Netanyahu and Minister Gallant of “causing it exterminationhaving used the starvation as a method of warincluding the denial of supplies of humanitarian aid, having deliberately targeted civilians during the conflict.” Khan then added 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. They understand malnutrition, dehydration, deep suffering and an increasing number of deaths among the Palestinian population, including infants, other children and women.”
“Today we must be clear on a fundamental issue. If we do not demonstrate our will to apply the law fairly, if it is seen as selectively applied, we will create the conditions for its collapse,” Khan said in his plea. “By doing so – he adds – we will loosen the ties that still hold us together, the stabilizing connections between all communities and individuals, the safety net that all victims look to in moments of suffering. This is the real risk we face right now. Now more than ever we must collectively demonstrate that international humanitarian law, the fundamental basis for human conduct during conflict, applies to all individuals and applies equally in all situations addressed by my Office and the Court. This is how we will demonstrate, in a tangible way, that the lives of all human beings have the same value.”
Negative reactions come from both the Israeli government and Hamas. From Tel Aviv a source cited by Ynet comments by declaring: “Hypocrisy and shame international”. Netanyahu also officially spoke and spoke of “scandal“, specifying however that “this will not stop me or us”. For the War Cabinet Minister, Benny Gantz, “the position of the prosecutor in The Hague will be a historic crime that will not disappear. The State of Israel took the right path of war after a massacre by a terrorist organization against its citizens. Israel fights in the most moral way in history, respecting the international law and having an independent and strong judiciary.” Therefore, “putting the leaders of a country that went into battle to protect its citizens on the same line as bloodthirsty terrorists is moral blindness and a breach of its duty and ability to protect its citizens.” The Foreign Minister, Israel Katz, speaks of a “scandalous decision, a frontal and unreserved attack against the victims of October 7 and our 128 kidnapped in Gaza. A historic shame.” The same approach, with a contrary point of view, is that of the Palestinian armed party, with an internal source according to which the ICC “puts the victim on the same level as the executioner”. This “will encourage the continuation of the war of extermination.”
From abroad, protests from the American administration arrived on Monday evening. The Secretary of State spoke first, Antony Blinkenaccording to which the United States “reject” the prosecutor’s request: “We reject the equation of Israel with Hamas. AND shameful“. President Joe Biden also spoke subsequently and defined “the prosecutor’s request as shameful. And let me be clear, whatever this prosecutor may imply, there is none equivalence, none, between Israel and Hamas. We will always stand by Israel against threats to its security.”
