THE HAGUE: International Criminal Court (ICC) Prosecutor Karim Khan has asked the Pre-Trial Chamber to issue arrest warrants for three Hamas...
THE HAGUE: International Criminal Court (ICC) Prosecutor Karim Khan has asked the Pre-Trial Chamber to issue arrest warrants for three Hamas leaders, according to the official’s statement.
The statement said that the Prosecutor's Office has "reasonable grounds to believe" that Yahya Sinwar, Hamas leader in the Gaza Strip, Mohammed Diab Ibrahim Al-Masri, commander of the movement's military wing, and Hamas political bureau chief Ismail Haniyeh "bear criminal responsibility for <…> war crimes and crimes against humanity committed on the territory of Israel and the State of Palestine from at least October 7, 2023." They are accused of atrocities including murder, torture, rape, brutalization, extermination and hostage-taking.
According to the prosecutor, "the war crimes alleged in these applications were committed in the context of an international armed conflict between Israel and Palestine, and a non-international armed conflict between Israel and Hamas running in parallel." As for the crimes against humanity, Khan said that they were committed in the context of "a widespread and systematic attack against the civilian population of Israel by Hamas and other armed groups pursuant to organisational policies." "Some of these crimes, in our assessment, continue to this day," he emphasized.
The prosecutor also requested arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Galant.
The ICC Prosecutor's Office opened an investigation in the Palestinian territories in 2021. At the time, it was stated that the investigation concerned possible war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in the Gaza Strip by Israeli forces, as well as by Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups. According to Prosecutor Karim Khan, alleged crimes committed during the escalation of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which began on October 8, 2023, also fall within the mandate of the Prosecutor's Office.
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