ICC issues arrest warrant for Benjamin Netanyahu and sacked defence minister Yoav Gallant

The International Criminal Court has issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former defence secretary Yoav Gallant.

They are accused of murder, persecution, and using starvation as a weapon of war during Israel’s war in Gaza.

Israel has previously insisted that the court does not have jurisdiction to rule on its military campaign in the occupied Palestinian territories.

The ICC ruled on Thursday that Israel's acceptance of the court's jurisdiction is "not required," however.

"The Court can exercise its jurisdiction on the basis of territorial jurisdiction of Palestine, as determined by Pre-Trial Chamber I in a previous composition,” they said in a statement.

The ICC also ruled that states are unable to challenge the court's jurisdiction before a warrant of arrest has been issued.

The court also rejected a further challenge issued by Israel concerning the issuing of arrest warrants.

The ICC said: “Each bears 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 Mr Netanyahu and Mr Gallant each bear criminal responsibility as civilian superiors for the war crime of intentionally directing an attack against the civilian population.”

When first requesting arrest warrants in May, the ICC's Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan KC said he had reasonable grounds to believe that Netanyahu and Gallant, who was dismissed from his role as defence secretary earlier this month, bear responsibility for crimes against humanity committed in Gaza.

These included starvation of civilians as a method of warfare, intentionally directing attacks against a civilian population and wilfully causing great suffering.

The alleged crimes began on October 8 last year, Khan said, as Israel began its military campaign against Hamas.

The ICC also issued an arrest warrant for Hamas leader Mohammed Diab Ibrahim al Masri, popularly known as Mohammed Deif.

The IDF claimed to have killed the military commander in an air strike in August, however.

In May, Khan requested that arrest warrants be issued for Yahya Sinwar, the architect of the October 7 attack, and Ismail Haniyeh, the head of Hamas's political bureau.

Both men have since been killed by Israeli operations.