Prosecutor for the International Criminal Court Karim A. A. Khan announced that he was making “applications for arrest warrants” for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israeli Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant for alleged war crimes in Gaza as well for the Hamas terrorist leaders Yahya Sinwar, Mohammed Diab Ibrahim Al-Masri, and Ismail Haniyeh.
In video statements posted online, Khan stated, ” I have reasonable grounds to believe, on the basis of evidence collected and examined by my Office, that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Minister of Defence Yoav Gallant bear criminal responsibility for the following international crimes.”
Khan alleged that the Israeli officials were using starvation of civilians as a method of warfare, “intentionally directing attacks against a civilian population,” and others.
A second statement about the Hamas terrorist officials stated, “On the basis of evidence collected and examined by my Office, I have reasonable grounds to believe that Yahya Siwar (Head of the Islamic Resistance Movement (‘Hamas’) in the Gaza Strip), Mohammed Diab Ibrahim Al-Masri, more commonly known as DEIF (Commander-in-Chief of the military wing of Hamas, known as the Al-Qassam Brigades), and Ismail Haniyeh (Head of Hamas Political Bureau) bear criminal responsibility for the following war crimes and crimes against humanity committed on the territory of Israel and the State of Palestine (in the Gaza strip) from at least 7 October 2023.”
He listed that the Hamas leaders used extermination as a “crime against humanity,” “rape and other acts of sexual violence as crimes against humanity,” torture, and taking hostages, among other crimes committed beginning on Oct. 7.
Khan concluded that he wanted “demonstrate [his] willingness to apply the law equally” between the two sides of the conflict and added, “If it is seen as being applied selectively, we will be creating the conditions for its collapse.”
“Now, more than ever, we must collectively demonstrate that international humanitarian law, the foundational baseline for human conduct during conflict, applies to all individuals and applies equally across the situations addressed by my Office and the Court. This is how we will prove, tangibly, that the lives of all human beings have equal value,” Khan said.
On Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terrorists attacked Israel, massacring over 1,200 people and taking hundreds of hostages, in addition to using sexual violence such as rape as a weapon of war. Israel has responded, attempting to eliminate Hamas as a terrorist organization in the area of Gaza, oftentimes sending evacuation orders to civilians before strikes on the terrorist group.
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