Israeli and Hamas leaders join list of people accused by leading war crimes court

JERUSALEM — By charging the heads of Israel and Hamas with war crimes, the top prosecutor of the International Criminal Court placed them among world leaders infamous for heinous acts against humanity.

Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan on Monday announced arrest warrants for two Israeli leaders, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and three Hamas leaders.

The prosecutor focused on actions taken by Hamas on October 7 when militants swept into southern Israel, killing about 1,200 people and taking about 250 hostages, and on Israel’s military response in Gaza, which has killed about 35,000. Palestinians, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health.

Netanyahu condemned the decision on Monday, calling it “a complete distortion of reality.”

“I reject with disgust the Hague prosecutor’s comparison between democratic Israel and the mass murderers of Hamas,” Netanyahu said.

In a statement, Hamas accused the prosecutor of trying to “equate the victim with the executioner.” He said he has the right to resist the Israeli occupation, including “armed resistance.”

The ICC is the permanent court of last resort, established in 2002 to prosecute people for war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide and crimes of aggression. Several countries do not accept the court’s jurisdiction, including Israel, the United States, China and Russia.

Here’s a closer look at the allegations against Israeli and Hamas leaders, and some of the leaders around the world who have also been served with ICC arrest warrants:

The Hamas officials (Ismail Haniyeh, Yahya Sinwar and Mohammed Deif) are accused of planning and instigating eight war crimes and crimes against humanity, including extermination, murder, hostage-taking, rape and torture.

“The crimes against humanity charged were part of a widespread and systematic attack against the civilian population of Israel by Hamas,” states the decision published today by the ICC.

“There are reasonable grounds to believe that hostages taken from Israel have been held in inhumane conditions and that some have been subjected to sexual violence, including rape, while in captivity.”

Hamas rejected the accusations.

Sinwar and Deif are believed to be hiding in Gaza. Haniyeh, the supreme leader of Hamas, is based in Qatar.

Netanyahu and Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant are charged with seven war crimes and crimes against humanity, including extermination and murder. They are also accused of starving civilians as a method of warfare, intentionally directing acts against a civilian population, persecuting them, and intentionally causing great suffering.

The UN says a “full-blown famine” is underway in northern Gaza, as the territory faces a near-total cutoff in aid supplies. Israel has been accused of heavily restricting the flow of aid to the territory, a charge it denies.

Netanyahu and Gallant are not at any immediate risk of prosecution. Israel is not a member of the court, but the threat of arrest could make it difficult for Israeli leaders to travel abroad.

The ICC has issued arrest warrants for other leaders over the past two decades since the court was established.

In March last year, Russian President Vladimir Putin was accused of kidnapping children from Ukraine to Russia. He was charged along with Maria Alekseyevna Lvova-Belova, the Russian Commissioner for Children’s Rights.

Putin’s chances of facing a trial at the ICC are highly unlikely because Moscow does not recognize the court’s jurisdiction or extradite its nationals. Russia responded by issuing its own arrest warrants against Khan, the court’s prosecutor and other ICC judges.

One of Africa’s most notorious warlords, Joseph Kony, received an ICC arrest warrant in 2005. As leader of the Lord’s Resistance Army in northern Uganda, he faces 12 counts of crimes against humanity, including murder, sexual slavery and rape, and 21 counts of war crimes.

Despite an internationally backed manhunt and a $5 million reward, Kony has evaded capture and remains at large. The ICC is expected to begin the first hearing in absentia in October.

Former Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir is wanted by the ICC on charges related to the Darfur conflict. Al-Bashir received arrest warrants in 2009 and 2010 charging him with five counts of crimes against humanity and three counts of genocide.

He remains at large, after spending time in a prison in Khartoum from 2019 to 2023. Earlier this year, the ICC said there had been “progress” in the case against al-Bashir.

Veteran Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi was charged with two counts of crimes against humanity for his brutal crackdown during the Arab Spring in 2011. The ICC issued an arrest warrant for Gadhafi in June 2011, but closed the case in November 2011, after his death.

Seif al-Islam Gadhafi, the dictator’s son, was indicted along with two others in 2011 and remains at large.