WASHINGTON, May 20, 2024—Today, the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) applied for arrest warrants for leaders of both Hamas and the State of Israel for war crimes and crimes against humanity, committed by Hamas from at least October 7 and by Israel on an ongoing basis since October 8. The Prosecutor announced reasonable grounds to believe that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israeli Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant bear criminal responsibility for numerous war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in the Gaza Strip over the last seven plus months. This development is a critical step toward the enforcement of international law and the protection of human rights, the disregard for which undermines peace and stability and threatens present and future generations.
The application for arrest of Netanhayu and Gallant is sought for, among other things, the starvation of civilians, murder as a war crime, intentionally directing attacks against a civilian population, extermination, persecution, and other inhumane acts.
The application for arrest comes against undeniable evidence of widespread famine in Palestine, as reported by the World Food Programme, and ongoing attacks on and obstruction of urgently needed deliveries of food and humanitarian aid. The Prosecutor highlighted that Israel has shut down pipelines that provide the primary source of drinkable water to the people of Gaza for more than seven months, adding thirst to the ravages of famine. The Israeli offensive is actively destroying Gaza’s ability to grow its own food, with long-term implications for its ability to sustain a human population. And the destruction of Gaza’s civil infrastructure, education buildings, and medical capacities is virtually complete, irrefutable, and indefensible.
The Prosecutor issued the application despite intense political and diplomatic pressure not to do so, pressure that, as UN human rights experts have recognized, promotes a culture of impunity and the long-term erosion of international law as an instrument for peace and stability.
Recognition of these alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity follows the latest round of hearings within the International Court of Justice (ICJ), addressing Israel’s clear failure to abide by the precautionary measures that the ICJ imposed to prevent the crime of genocide. Notwithstanding those measures, Israel is escalating its attacks on Rafah, and calling for the evacuation of civilian populations that literally have nowhere safe to go.
Despite the overwhelming recognition by the international community that this conduct is unlawful, major states in North America and Europe continue to support Israeli attacks on Gaza, making them complicit in the illegalities resulting from those attacks. The United States continues to sell enormous quantities of armaments to the Israeli military in the midst of the Gaza invasion. And those who have spoken out to protest the unfolding genocide are facing active criminalization and repression in the United States, Germany, and beyond.
As an organization committed to the protection, promotion, and fulfillment of human rights, the protection of the environment that is fundamental to securing those human rights, and to the role of international law in ensuring global peace and stability, CIEL urgently calls on all States involved to secure an immediate and permanent ceasefire, to secure the release of all hostages, to immediately halt arms sales and other material support to Israel, and to hold all those involved in war crimes, crimes against humanity, and the crime of genocide to account. There can be no environmental justice without human rights.
Finally, CIEL calls on those who are actively suppressing peaceful protests against Israel’s war crimes and the unfolding genocide to stop shutting down the voices calling for peace, and instead to join them.
Media Contact
Maria Frausto, press@ciel.org.