ICC seeks arrest warrants against Sinwar and Netanyahu for war crimes over October 7 attack and Gaza war


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kCXbDtbGRUI

The International Criminal Court is seeking arrest warrants for Hamas leader in Gaza Yahya Sinwar and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity over the October 7 attacks on Israel and the subsequent war in Gaza, the court’s chief prosecutor Karim Khan told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour in an exclusive interview on Monday.

Khan said the ICC is also seeking warrants for Israel’s Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, as well as two other top Hamas leaders — Mohammed Diab Ibrahim al-Masri, the leader of the Al Qassem Brigades who is better known as Mohammed Deif, and Ismail Haniyeh, Hamas’ political leader.

The warrants against the Israeli politicians mark the first time the ICC has targeted the top leader of a close ally of the United States. The decision puts Netanyahu in the company of the Russian President Vladimir Putin, for whom the ICC issued an arrest warrant over Moscow’s war on Ukraine, and the Libyan strongman Moammar Gadhafi, who was facing an arrest warrant from the ICC for alleged crimes against humanity at the time of his capture and killing in October 2011.

By applying for the arrest warrants against Israeli and Hamas leaders in the same action, Khan’s office risks attracting criticism that it places a terror organization and an elected government on an equivalent footing.

A panel of ICC judges will now consider Khan’s application for the arrest warrants.

Khan said the charges against Sinwar, Haniyeh and al-Masri include “extermination, murder, taking of hostages, rape and sexual assault in detention.”

“The world was shocked on the 7th of October when people were ripped from their bedrooms, from their homes, from the different kibbutzim in Israel,” Khan told Amanpour, adding that “people have suffered enormously.”

The charges against Netanyahu and Gallant include “causing extermination, causing starvation as a method of war, including the denial of humanitarian relief supplies, deliberately targeting civilians in conflict,” Khan told Amanpour.

Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, at left, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, at right, are pictured.

Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, at left, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, at right, are pictured. Getty Images/Shutterstock
When reports surfaced last month that the ICC chief prosecutor was considering this course of action, Netanyahu said that any ICC arrest warrants against senior Israeli government and military officials “would be an outrage of historic proportions,” and that Israel “has an independent legal system that rigorously investigates all violations of the law.”

Asked by Amanpour about the comments made by Netanyahu, Khan said: “Nobody is above the law.”

He said that if Israel disagrees with the ICC, “they are free, notwithstanding their objections to jurisdiction, to raise a challenge before the judges of the court and that’s what I advise them to do.”

Israel and the United States are not members of the ICC. However, the ICC claims to have jurisdiction over Gaza, East Jerusalem and the West Bank after Palestinian leaders formally agreed to be bound by the court’s founding principles in 2015.

The ICC announcement on Monday is separate from the case that is currently being heard by the the International Court of Justice (ICJ) over an accusation from South Africa that Israel [quote]was committing genocide in its war against Hamas following the October 7 attacks.

While the ICJ considers cases that involve countries and nations, and the ICC is a criminal court, which brings cases against individuals for war crimes or crimes against humanity.

Monday’s announcement is not the first time that the ICC acted in relation to Israel. In March 2021, Khan’s office launched an investigation into possible crimes committed in the Palestinian territories since June 2014 in Gaza and the West Bank.

Located in The Hague, Netherlands, and created by a treaty called the Rome Statute first brought before the United Nations, the ICC operates independently. Most countries – 124 of them – are parties to the treaty, but there are notable exceptions, including Israel, the US and Russia.

That means that if the court grants Khan’s application and issues arrest warrants for the five men, any country that is a member would have to arrest them and extradite them to The Hague.

Under the rules of the court, all signatories of the Rome Statute have the obligation to cooperate fully with its decisions. This would make it extremely difficult for Netanyahu and Gallant to travel internationally, including to many countries that are among Israel’s closest allies – including Germany and the United Kingdom

https://www.cnn.com/2024/05/20/middleeast/icc-israel-hamas-arrest-warrant-war-crimes-intl/index.html

This is a welcome development, Benjamin Netanyahu and his enablers must be brought to book for war crimes

;.
Good to know that the ICC is not there just to issue arrest warrant to corrupt and criminal African leaders.

Unfortunately for you, a legitimate head of government is not the same thing as a criminal like Yaya Sinwar.

Sinwar will be slaughtered by the IDF before he even gets a chance to appear before the International Criminal Court.

God1000:
This is a welcome development, Benjamin Netanyahu and his enablers must be brought to book for war crimes

May Allah continue topunish Isreal. We nigerians sympathize with the Palestinians and the Iranians during this mourning period. We support the arrest and prosecution of Nethanyahu for killing innocent Palestinians. We will continue to pray for the Palestinians and Iranian people.

ICC has officially gone mad

SIN WAR he should have checked his name before attacking isreal

E don sett..

International Wahalla

Make Dem put body nau

Fair enough,Shame will not make ICC issue arrest warrant on Hamas leader leaving Nethanyu out. god of Righteousness of nairaland.
ICC is a toothless Dog 🐩 only weak nations leaders get arrested. Let’s see the hypocrisy of the west start to play in full force.

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Wahala be like bicycle

Mumu ICC. Have you arrested Buhari and Buratai? Useless motherfu***r

Yes, i know I am a yoruba Muslim but i believe that ICC should leave isreal and their prime minister alone to defend their people

It's the nothern ones that want satanyahu to die by fire we here in the west are not like them

What is Netanyahu's offence? For defending his people? Have they arrested Putin? Anyway, Isreali leaders are safe and living in Israel unlike Hamas terrorists leaders who dare not step their feet on Gaza and West Bank.

Watianoengineer:
May Allah continue topunish Isreal. We nigerians sympathize with the Palestinians and the Iranians during this mourning period. We support the arrest and prosecution of Nethanyahu for killing innocent Palestinians. We will continue to pray for the Palestinians and Iranian people.

lol Allah punish who? , Allah is punishing you here in Nigeria and yet you have not noticed it.

The highest punishment Allah can give to any nation is to give the Nation a bad leadership.

This is a good development, because it is the innocent civilians that are suffering their madness especially the Israel Netanyahu madness.

Reminds me of that movie by Samuel L. Jackson 'Rules of Engagement', I think?
Where armed terrorists hid among a protesting crowd to fire at soldiers. I think a soldier fired back and was being tried/court marshalled for shooting at unarmed civilians.

Nonsense and ICC

mtscheew!

SINWAR {SIN}+{WAR} didn't even check his name before taking action

God1000:
This is a welcome development, Benjamin Netanyahu and his enablers must be brought to book for war crimes

. You and Sinwar will be arrested too.

Watianoengineer:
May Allah continue topunish Isreal. We nigerians sympathize with the Palestinians and the Iranians during this mourning period. We support the arrest and prosecution of Nethanyahu for killing innocent Palestinians. We will continue to pray for the Palestinians and Iranian people.

your allah is too weak lol

Impossible Tense

Lol, mission impossible

If na African leader, they would have gone after him

Imagine if Nentayahu was from Africa, wetin Charles Taylor do no reach this one, wetin Gaddafi do no reach this one

ICC is a joke

Drama, ICC and UN that lack power to stop him carrying out the destruction than to condemn on dailies.

US will soon come out to veto the arrest

Watianoengineer:
May Allah continue topunish Isreal. We nigerians sympathize with the Palestinians and the Iranians during this mourning period. We support the arrest and prosecution of Nethanyahu for killing innocent Palestinians. We will continue to pray for the Palestinians and Iranian people.

. Will you shut that dirty mouth of yours?

Nobody can touch Israel.

God will protect Israel from head slammers

Go and arrest Putin first.

May the Almighty God curse Netanyahu, Israel and anybody supporting the genocide in Gaza