DayofPal– The International Criminal Court issued Thursday arrests warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and his former defense minister Yoav Gallant over war crime of starvation and the crimes against humanity of murder and persecution they have committed in the Gaza Strip for over a year.
As the trial cannot commence in absentia and the court does not have enforcement powers, all 124 members of the Rome Statute, the treaty that established the ICC, are now compelled to arrest the two Israelis and hand them over to the court.
The ICC said in a statement that Netanyahu and Gallant have been issued arrest warrants for “the war crime of starvation as a method of warfare and the crimes against humanity of murder, persecution, and other inhumane acts.”
The ICC’s Pre-Trial Chamber I, consisting of three judges, has found reasonable grounds to believe that two Israeli officials, Prime Minister Netanyahu and Defense Minister Gallant, are criminally responsible for war crimes related to starvation as a method of warfare.
The court said they intentionally deprived Gaza’s civilian population of essential goods like food, water, medicine, and fuel. It also found that their actions obstructed humanitarian aid and disrupted the distribution of vital supplies.
The decision to restrict aid appeared to be politically motivated and not based on military necessity, with Netanyahu’s statements linking aid halts to war goals.
The ICC’s judges also found reasonable grounds to believe that the deprivation of essential goods in Gaza, such as food and water, led to conditions that caused the death of civilians, including children, from malnutrition and dehydration, determining that the crime against humanity of murder was committed in relation to these victims.
In addition, there are reasonable grounds to believe that Netanyahu and Gallant were responsible for the crime against humanity of persecution in Gaza. Their intentional limitation of medical supplies, including anaesthetics, caused great suffering to those in need of treatment, with doctors performing amputations without anaesthesia.
These actions deprived Gaza’s civilian population of basic rights, including life and health, and targeted Palestinians based on political or national grounds.
The court also found that the two officials were criminally responsible for directing attacks against Gaza’s civilian population, citing two specific incidents. They failed to take action to prevent or address these crimes.
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