The chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) Karim A.A. Khan, said on May 20, 2024 that he is seeking arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, Hamas leaders Yahya Sinwar, Mohammed Deif, and Ismail Haniyeh on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity over the October 7 attacks on Israel and the subsequent war in Gaza.

Khan said he has “reasonable grounds to believe” these five men bear “criminal responsibility” for war crimes and crimes against humanity in relation to Hamas’s October 7 attack in Israel and the war in the Gaza Strip.

The full statement of ICC Prosecutor Karim A.A. Khan KC » Applications for arrest warrants in the situation in the State of Palestine

A panel of six experts in international law – Lord Justice Fulford, Judge Theodor Meron CMG, Amal Clooney, Danny Friedman KC, Baroness Helena Kennedy LT KC, and Elizabeth Wilmshurst CMG KC – authored Why we support ICC prosecutions for crimes in Israel and Gaza, published in the Financial Times. In it they state »

The attacks by Hamas in Israel on October 7 and the military response by Israeli forces in Gaza have tested the system of international law to its limits. This is why, as international lawyers, we felt compelled to assist …

In our legal report published today, we unanimously agree that the prosecutor’s work was rigorous, fair and grounded in the law and the facts. And we unanimously agree that there are reasonable grounds to believe that the suspects he identifies have committed war crimes and crimes against humanity within the jurisdiction of the ICC.

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Last Updated on May 27, 2024