The International Criminal Court’s arrest warrants for two Israeli leaders say that there are grounds to believe they bear “criminal responsibility” for the devastating humanitarian crisis in Gaza, according to a statement released by the court on Thursday.
Most of Gaza’s over two million people are still displaced — many living in tents — and finding enough food and clean water is often a daily struggle. Israeli officials, who ordered the invasion of Gaza after the Hamas-led Oct. 7 attacks, say their aim is to eradicate the armed group. They have argued for months that they are doing everything possible to facilitate the flow of food and other desperately needed supplies to Palestinian civilians.
The text of the warrants was kept secret to protect witnesses, the court said in its statement, but the judges released some details “since conduct similar to that addressed in the warrant of arrest appears to be ongoing.”
The court said that there were reasonable grounds to find that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant, the former Israeli defense minister, bear responsibility for “the war crime of starvation as a method of warfare; and the crimes against humanity of murder, persecution, and other inhumane acts.”
Mr. Netanyahu’s office rejected the assertions, calling them “absurd and false” and accusing the court of being motivated by antisemitism and hatred of the Jewish state. Israeli officials — as well as some aid workers — have blamed rampant lawlessness in Gaza, including attacks by armed gangs on convoys ferrying relief, as a major reason for the dire conditions.
The court said some Gazans had died from deprivation in part imposed by Israeli restrictions on the flow of aid, providing legal grounds for suspected murder. The judges also argued that restrictions on food and medicine to Gazans as a whole could amount to the crime of persecution under international law.
The number of relief convoys reaching desperate Gazans has fluctuated significantly over the course of the war. Health officials in Gaza say malnutrition has played a role in the deaths of at least some people, including young children.
Aid officials say Israel has often impeded their work, not allowing them to bring in enough food, medicine and fuel. Israeli officials have sometimes argued that there is no humanitarian crisis in Gaza; at other times, they have blamed aid organizations, saying they lack the logistical capacity to effectively ferry supplies through the enclave or prevent looting.
But the court said that Mr. Netanyahu and Mr. Gallant had “intentionally and knowingly” deprived Gazans of “objects indispensable to their survival, including food, water and medicine and medical supplies.”
Israel has made some changes, including by opening new land crossings for aid to enter Gaza. But the court argued that those changes only came in response to pressure from the Biden administration and the international community, not from an Israeli attempt to comply with international law.
“In any event, the increases in humanitarian assistance were not sufficient to improve the population’s access to essential goods,” the court said.
Separately, both Israeli leaders bore responsibility “as civilian superiors” for “intentionally directing an attack against the civilian population,” the court said. The judges said they had found two attacks that were “intentionally directed against civilians,” though it did not elaborate on what they were.
The court also issued an arrest warrant for Muhammad Deif, Hamas’s military chief, who oversaw the Oct. 7 attacks. Israel announced in August that it had killed Mr. Deif in an airstrike in southern Gaza that killed dozens of Palestinians, although Hamas has yet to confirm his death.
The court said its prosecutors were “not in a position to determine whether Mr. Deif has been killed or remains alive,” so had decided to issue the arrest warrants anyway.
As the commander of Hamas’s armed wing, Mr. Deif plotted the attacks alongside other Hamas leaders. In a sweeping, coordinated assault, Hamas fighters broke through Israel’s defenses and led an attack that killed about 1,200 people and took more than 200 others hostage in Gaza.
In its statement, the court said there were reasonable grounds to hold Mr. Deif responsible for numerous crimes against humanity, including murder, torture, sexual violence, and hostage taking.
Karim Khan, the court’s chief prosecutor, had also requested arrest warrants for Yahya Sinwar, Hamas’s leader, and Ismail Haniyeh, who led the group’s political bureau. Mr. Haniyeh was assassinated in Tehran in July, in an operation widely attributed to Israel, while Israeli troops killed Mr. Sinwar in October. Both of their deaths were confirmed by Hamas.
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