Israeli PM Netanyahu to appeal to ICC against his arrest warrant

CAIRO – 27 November 2024: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has decided to appeal to the International Criminal Court against his arrest warrant, al Qahirah News Channel reported citing Israeli media on Wednesday.

The International Criminal Court (ICC) has issued on Thursday an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamine Netanyahu and former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.

The Pre-trial Chamber 1 of the ICC issued on Thursday the arrest warrant against Netanyahu and Gallant for commuting “crimes against humanity and war crimes committed from at least 8 October 2023 until at least 20 May 2024, the day the Prosecution filed the applications for warrants of arrest.”

“The Chamber found reasonable grounds to believe that Mr Netanyahu, born on 21 October 1949, Prime Minister of Israel at the time of the relevant conduct, and Mr Gallant, born on 8 November 1958, Minister of Defence of Israel at the time of the alleged conduct, 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 court said in a statement.

In a statement, the Hamas movement welcomed the court’s decision and called for expanding the scope of accountability against the Israeli officials over war crimes against the Palestinians.

The movement added that this step “constitutes an important historical precedent, and a correction to a long path of historical injustice against our people.”