(New York Post) The International Criminal Court announced Monday that it is seeking arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar on war crime charges.
The charges are tied to the deadly Oct. 7 terror attacks on Israel and the subsequent war in Gaza, the court’s chief prosecutor, Karim Khan, said in a statement on Monday.
Warrants are also being sought for Israel’s Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and two top Hamas leaders. The charges against the Hamas terror chiefs include extermination, murder, torture, rape and taking hostages, all as war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Israel is accused of “wilful killing,” “starvation of civilians as a method of warfare” and “wilfully causing great suffering.”
“My office submits that the war crimes alleged in these applications were committed in the context of an international armed conflict between Israel and Palestine, and a non-international armed conflict between Israel and Hamas (together with other Palestinian Armed Groups) running in parallel,” the prosecutor said.
The ICC, which is based in the the Hague in the Netherlands, can charge individuals with war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide.
Israel isn’t a member of the ICC and disputes its jurisdiction.
A panel of ICC judges will now weigh the prosecutors’ applications for the warrants.
