Italy would have to arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu if he came to the country, Italian Defense Minister Guido Croceto said after the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant.
The State of Palestine welcomes the decision of the International Criminal Court regarding the issuance of an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Galant, six months after they were requested by Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan, according to a statement from the Embassy of Palestine in Montenegro.
"The decision of the ICC restores hope and confidence not only in international law together with UN institutions, but also in the importance of justice, accountability and prosecution of war criminals, especially at a time when the Palestinian people are still exposed to genocide, war crimes taking the form of implementation starvation as a method of warfare, and crimes against humanity manifest in killing, oppression and displacement, among other things," it added.
The State of Palestine called on all member states of the ICC and the UN to implement the court decision and prosecute the criminals before the courts, while emphasizing the need to stop communication and meetings with Netanyahu and Galant.
The statement also states that it will continue to deal with international judicial institutions and courts until all criminals who have committed and are still committing crimes against the Palestinian people are held accountable in order to ensure justice and fairness for the Palestinians.
The chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Karim Khan, called on the body's 124 member states to comply with arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, former Defense Minister Yoav Galant and Hamas leader Mohamed Deif.
"Based on the evidence submitted by my office, the judges confirmed that there are reasonable grounds to believe that crimes under the Rome Statute have been committed," Khan said in a press release.
"The decision of the independent judges of the International Criminal Court confirms that international humanitarian law must be respected in all circumstances through fair and impartial judicial processes... I appeal to all signatory states to fulfill their obligations under the Rome Statute by respecting and complying with these court orders," the prosecutor said.
He also called on non-ICC countries to work together to "preserve international law."
He added that the investigation into the situation in Palestine will continue.
"We are conducting additional lines of investigation in the areas under the Court's jurisdiction, which include Gaza and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem," Khan said.
He said he was "deeply concerned" by "reports of escalating violence, further reductions in humanitarian access and continued proliferation of allegations of international crimes" in Gaza and the West Bank, the Guardian reports.
Yoav Galant, the former Israeli defense minister for whom the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant, said the court's decision "sets a dangerous precedent against the right to self-defense and moral warfare, and encourages murderous terrorism."
"Gone are the days when we could be denied the right to defend ourselves," Galant said in a statement posted on the X social network.
He added that he was "proud" to have led Israel's security system "in a difficult and successful war that was forced upon us," the Guardian reports.
Several humanitarian agencies have warned that the international community must take seriously the International Criminal Court's (ICC) decision to issue arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for alleged war crimes committed in Gaza.
The human rights organization "Human Rights Watch" (HRW) warned that this "important" move depends on the "willingness of governments to support justice".
"The arrest warrants against senior Israeli leaders and a Hamas official shatter the perception that individuals are above the law," said Balkis Jara, director of international justice at HRW.
"These orders should finally compel the international community to address the crimes and ensure justice for all victims in Palestine and Israel," she added.
The Supreme Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu and former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Galant on Thursday, charging them with war crimes during Israel's 13-month war in Gaza following the October 7 Hamas-led attacks.
Following the announcement, UN Special Rapporteur on the Palestinian Territories, Francesca Albanese, said human rights leaders "must work together to keep the flame of accountability alive," in a post on Xu.
The Israeli human rights organization B'Tselem called on "all member states" to respect the decision and "implement the arrest warrants".
"The personal responsibility of decision-makers is a key element in the struggle for justice and freedom. The policies of the Israeli government have led to the deaths of tens of thousands of civilians, hundreds of thousands of civilians have starved to death, and millions of people have suffered terribly," B'Tselem said.
UK-based NGO Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP) said the ICC decision "must be a turning point for Gaza and the wider region".
"Current violations of Palestinian rights by Israel are supported by decades of impunity, and attacks on Gaza in the past year have devastated the health system and caused enormous civilian suffering," MAP said in a statement to CNN.
"Palestinians can no longer wait for justice and protection under the law, and Great Britain must not be an ally in crimes," the NGO added.
At least 22 people were killed in an Israeli airstrike on a family home in central Gaza on Wednesday, according to a medical official.
Ten of those victims in the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood were children, Dr. Munir Albursh, director general of the Gaza Ministry of Health, told CNN.
Emergency crews were working to pull people out of the rubble, Gaza's Civil Defense said, adding that the death toll was expected to rise.
Israeli attacks on northern Gaza killed at least 65 Palestinians overnight, the director of Beit Laihia's Kamal Advan Hospital, Hosam Abu Safija, told CNN, adding that the death toll was expected to rise.
About 200 people are believed to have been at the site of the strike when the Israeli army attacked, the doctor said in an interview with Al-Aqsa TV, the Hamas channel.
Medical personnel were pulling bodies from the rubble "using their hands," he added.
Rescue teams previously told CNN they have been unable to access parts of northern Gaza besieged by the Israeli military, which has launched new attacks it says are targeting a renewed Hamas presence.
Safija warned that the hospital "will become a mass grave if there is no urgent intervention by international organizations and if medical supplies are not delivered," adding that "there is no emergency aid" in northern Gaza.
In the Israeli attack on the Lebanese province of Balbek-Hermel, at least 47 people were killed and 22 were wounded, the governor of that area announced on the X social network.
According to the Gaza Health Ministry, at least 44.056 Palestinians have been killed and another 104.268 injured since Israel began its military offensive in Gaza following the Hamas-led attack on October 7.
In the past 24 hours, Israeli attacks have killed at least 71 Palestinians and injured another 176, the health ministry reported on Thursday.
Jeremy Corbyn, the former leader of Britain's Labor Party, called on British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Foreign Secretary David Lemmy to immediately support the "long-delayed" arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court.
"That is the minimum that is expected. Will the British government now, finally, fulfill its international obligations to prevent genocide and stop all arms sales to Israel?" Corbyn wrote on the X social network.
The UK government "respects the independence of the International Criminal Court", a British government spokesman said, after the ICC issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, former Defense Minister Yoav Galant and Hamas military wing leader Mohamed Deif.
The court is "the primary international institution for the investigation and prosecution of the most serious crimes of international concern," said the spokesman for the Prime Minister of Great Britain, Keir Starmer, according to the Guardian.
Downing Street declined to comment on whether Netanyahu would be arrested if he visited the UK, saying he "doesn't want to get into hypothetical situations".
"This government has been clear that Israel has the right to defend itself under international law. There is no moral equivalence between Israel, a democracy, and Hamas and the Lebanese Hezbollah, which are terrorist organizations. We continue to focus on an immediate ceasefire in order to ended the devastating violence in Gaza," the spokesman added.
The International Criminal Court (ICC) relies on the 124 state parties to the Rome Statute, which established the court, to execute arrest warrants.
Member states are required to arrest individuals wanted by the ICC if they set foot on their territory, and although they do not always do so, this means that defendants must consider whether they are willing to risk the journey, the Guardian reports.
Last year, Vladimir Putin decided not to travel to South Africa amid speculation he could be arrested under an ICC arrest warrant over his oversight of the abduction of Ukrainian children in Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Neither Israel nor its closest ally, the US, are members, nor are the possible hosts of the truce talks, Qatar and Egypt, although this may not be relevant as none of the accused parties attended the talks. Jordan and Tunisia are the only Arab members besides Palestine.
Another staunch ally of Israel, Germany, is a member of the ICC, as are all the countries of the European Union. Switzerland is a member, as is Japan. All Latin American countries, except Cuba and Haiti, are members of the ICC, as well as 33 African countries.
The ICC has jurisdiction over crimes committed by nationals of a member state, as well as over crimes committed on the territory of a member state.
Palestine acceded to the Rome Statute in 2015, and in 2021 the ICC ruled that Palestine was a state, extending the court's jurisdiction to territories occupied by Israel since 1967, Gaza and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem.
The arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court for the leader of Hamas' military wing, Mohammed Deif, is a sign that the voices of victims are being heard, a representative of the families of victims of the October 7 Hamas attack said.
AFP reports a statement from Yael Vias Gvirsman, who represents the families of 300 Israeli victims of Hamas attacks:
"This warrant for Mr. Deif's arrest has enormous significance. It means that the voices of these victims are being heard," he said.
EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said that the arrest warrants issued by the International Criminal Court for Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Galant from Israel, as well as the leader of the military wing of Hamas, Mohamed Deif, are binding on all EU members.
In a statement published on the X social network, Borrelj said he had taken note of the ICC's decision, adding that it is "binding for all states signatories to the Rome Statute, which includes all EU members."
The United States "categorically rejects" the International Criminal Court's (ICC) decision to issue arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Galant, the White House said.
"We are deeply concerned about the prosecutor's haste to seek arrest warrants and the troubling procedural errors that led to this decision. The United States has made it clear that the ICC has no jurisdiction in this case," a National Security Council spokesman said in a statement. of the USA.
The United States, which is not a member of the ICC, has previously supported war crimes warrants against Vladimir Putin and other Russian officials for crimes committed in Ukraine. Washington, however, has already condemned the court's attempts to prosecute Netanyahu and Galant, which has sparked accusations of double standards against President Joe Biden's administration, especially from many UN members from countries in the Global South.
Itamar Ben-Gvir, Israel's national security minister, has called for Israel to annex the West Bank in response to the issuance of an arrest warrant for Israel's prime minister by the International Criminal Court, which accuses him of war crimes.
Ben-Gvir said that the court was "anti-Semitic from beginning to end" and that its decision was "an unprecedented disgrace."
Ben-Gvir, who has repeatedly called for Jewish settlement of the West Bank, which Israel has occupied since 1967, used the biblical name for the area.
"Response to arrest warrants: application of sovereignty to all areas of Judea and Samaria, Jewish settlement throughout the entire country," he wrote on social media.
On Friday, The Times of Israel reported that Ben-Gvir said he was the only member of the government to vote against increasing humanitarian aid to the besieged Gaza Strip.
"I believe that as long as we have hostages in Gaza, we must not make any concessions to the Strip, not even to the civilian population," the minister said at the time.
US Democratic Senator John Fetterman gave perhaps the briefest political reaction to the decision of the International Criminal Court in The Hague to issue arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, former Defense Minister Yoav Galant and Hamas leader Mohamed Deif for alleged war crimes related to the war. in Gaza.
In a social media post, alongside a clip of a BBC News headline about the arrest warrants, Fetterman wrote:
"There is no basis, no relevance, no way. That's it," adding an emoticon of the Israeli flag, the Guardian reports.
Republican Representative Mike Waltz, who was chosen by President-elect Donald Trump to be national security adviser in the incoming US administration, announced "a strong response to the anti-Semitic bias of the International Criminal Court and the United Nations in January" when Trump takes office.
"The ICC has no credibility, and these allegations have been denied by the US government. Israel has lawfully defended its people and borders against genocidal terrorists," Volz wrote in a social media post.
In its first reaction to the issuance of an arrest warrant on war crimes charges, Benjamin Netanyahu's office described the decision by the International Criminal Court (ICC) as "absurd and a lie" and said the ruling was "anti-Semitic."
Benjamin Netanyahu's office categorically rejects the accusations leveled against the Israeli prime minister.
Netanyahu's office says that the country will not "give in under pressure, will not be discouraged and will not retreat" until, as they said, "all of Israel's war goals are achieved."
"Israel completely rejects the absurd and false actions and accusations against Netanyahu coming from the International Criminal Court, which is a biased and discriminatory political body. There is no war more justified than the one Israel is waging in Gaza since October 7, 2023, after that the terrorist organization Hamas launched a deadly attack on Israel, committing the largest massacre of the Jewish people since the Holocaust.
The decision was made by a corrupt chief prosecutor, who is trying to save himself from serious allegations of sexual harassment, and biased judges driven by anti-Semitic hatred of Israel," the statement said.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog described the International Criminal Court's decision to issue arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, former Defense Minister Yoav Galant and Hamas leader Muhammad Deif for alleged war crimes related to the Gaza war as a "dark day for humanity."
"This is a dark day for justice. A dark day for humanity. Made in bad faith, this scandalous decision of the International Criminal Court has turned universal justice into a universal mockery. It mocks the sacrifice of all who fight for justice - from the victory of the Allies over the Nazis until today. It ignores the fate of the 101 Israeli hostages held in brutal Hamas captivity in Gaza.It ignores Hamas's cynical use of its own people as human beings shields. It ignores the basic fact that Israel is under barbaric attack and that it has the obligation and the right to defend its people. It ignores the fact that Israel is a living democracy, which acts in accordance with international humanitarian law and makes enormous efforts to ensure the humanitarian needs of the civilian population." Hercog said in a post on social networks.
He assessed that this case was the result of "cynical exploitation of international legal institutions" and accused the "Iranian empire of evil".
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