On 21 November 2024, Pre-Trial Chamber I of the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued warrants of arrest for Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, former Israeli defence minister Yoav Gallant and Hamas military leader Mohammed Deif.

The arrest warrants are classified as ‘secret’, in order to protect witnesses and to safeguard the conduct of the investigations. However, the Chamber released some information since conduct similar to that addressed in the warrant of arrest appears to be ongoing. Moreover, the Chamber considered it to be in the interest of victims and their families that they are made aware of the warrants’ existence.

The Chamber found reasonable grounds to believe that Netanyahu and Gallant each bear criminal responsibility for the following crimes as co-perpetrators for committing the acts jointly with others: the war crime of starvation as a method of warfare; and the crimes against humanity of murder, persecution, and other inhumane acts. The Chamber also found reasonable grounds to believe that Netanyahu and Gallant each bear criminal responsibility as civilian superiors for the war crime of intentionally directing an attack against the civilian population.

It also found reasonable grounds to believe Deif was responsible for crimes against humanity and war crimes including murder, torture, rape and hostage taking relating to the Hamas attack on Israel on 7 October 2023 in which fighters killed more than 1,200 people, mostly Israeli civilians, and kidnapped 250.

These warrants mean that these three should be arrested if they enter any of the 124 countries that are States Parties to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. These include the UK.

More details on the ICC website.

Outrage from Israel, US and elsewhere

The United States is not a party to the Rome Statute and does not accept the Court’s authority. President Joe Biden described the warrants in a statement on Thursday night as “outrageous…Let me be clear once again: whatever the ICC might imply, there is no equivalence – none – between Israel and Hamas. We will always stand with Israel against threats to its security.”

Netanyahu’s office denounced the chamber’s decision as “antisemitic…Israel utterly rejects the false and absurd charges of the international criminal court, a biased and discriminatory political body…no war is more just than the war Israel has been waging in Gaza”.

In addition Argentina, Austria, Hungary and other countries refuse to accept the Chamber’s ruling.

But many countries issued statements saying they will abide by the arrest warrant. Some of them are listed here.