What happened
The International Criminal Court Thursday issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, and Hamas military leader Ibrahim Al-Masri, saying the three men were likely responsible for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza and Israel.
Hamas killed about 1,200 Israelis and abducted 250 others in its Oct. 7. attack. Israel’s known death toll in Gaza topped 44,000 yesterday, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, with more than half of the dead noncombatants.
Who said what
The ICC said it found “reasonable grounds” to believe Netanyahu and Gallant were “criminally responsible” for the “war crime of starvation as a method of warfare” and the “crimes against humanity of murder, persecution and other inhumane acts.” The crimes attributed to Masri, commonly known as Mohammed Deif, include murder, torture and “rape and other form of sexual violence.” Israel said it killed Deif in July, but the ICC said it had no proof of his death.
Netanyahu said he “utterly rejects the false and absurd charges,” calling the ICC a “biased and discriminatory political body” with no jurisdiction in Israel. The White House National Security Council said the U.S. “fundamentally rejects” the ICC’s decision. The court is an independent body, and neither the U.S. nor Israeli is a signatory to its statute.
What next?
Netanyahu and Gallant are “unlikely to find themselves in a courtroom standing trial on the charges anytime soon,” since the ICC relies on its 124 signatory nations to make arrests, The New York Times said. But the warrants “could affect their international travel,” The Washington Post said, as several European leaders — including Israel allies — “affirmed they would uphold their obligations” to the court and arrest the Israeli leaders if they set foot in their countries.