The chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) has called on judges to “urgently” rule on his request for arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and others linked to the war on Gaza.
Prosecutor Karim Khan said that “any unjustified delay in these proceedings detrimentally affects the rights of victims”.
Khan had applied for arrest warrants against Israeli officials, including Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, as well as three Hamas leaders in May for alleged crimes committed during the Hamas-led October 7 attack on southern Israel and Israel’s subsequent war on Gaza.
Khan stressed that the ICC had jurisdiction over Israeli nationals who commit atrocities in the occupied Palestinian territory and asked the judges to dismiss legal challenges filed by several governments and other parties. He rejected claims by Israel that it is carrying out its own investigations into alleged war crimes.
ICC prosecutors have said there are reasonable grounds to believe Netanyahu and Gallant, as well as Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, military chief Mohammed al-Masri and Hamas’s political leader Ismail Haniyeh, bear criminal responsibility for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity.
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