OCCUPIED JERUSALEM (Palestine Foundation Information Center) The Member of Hamas Political Bureau, Ezzat Al-Resheq, hailed the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) decision to issue an arrest warrant for Israeli premier Benjamin Netanyahu and his former war minister Yoav Galant, saying, “regardless of the possibility of implementing the ICC’s decision, it has been revealed that the international justice is with us and against the Zionist entity”.
Al-Resheq added, in a press release on Thursday, that the true value of the ICC’s decision lies in the fact that it has revealed an increased awareness of the Palestinian cause and exposed the “true terrorist nature of the Israeli occupation to the world.”
The ICC issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Galant regarding “alleged war crimes” in the Gaza Strip, saying it has found “reasonable grounds” to believe that they bear criminal responsibility for committing war crimes in Gaza.
The court said in a statement on Thursday that there is reason to believe that Netanyahu and Galant supervised attacks on the civilians.
It elaborated that the war crimes attributed to Netanyahu and Galant include the use of starvation as a method of war, as well as crimes against humanity such as murder, persecution, and other inhumane acts.
The court announced in its statement that the Pre-Trial Chamber ruled on two requests submitted by Israel on September 26, 2024.
In the first request, Israel challenged the court’s jurisdiction over the situation in the State of Palestine in general, and over the Israelis more specifically, based on Article 19(2) of the Statute.
In the second request, Israel asked the Chamber to order the Prosecution to submit a new notification of the commencement of the investigation to its authorities under Article 18(1) of the Statute.
Israel also requested the Chamber to discontinue any proceedings before the Court in the relevant situation, including the consideration of the applications for arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Galant, submitted by the Prosecution on 20 May 2024.
The Court confirmed that Israel’s acceptance of the Court’s jurisdiction was not required, as the Court could exercise its jurisdiction on the basis of the territorial jurisdiction of Palestine, as determined by Pre-Trial Chamber I in a previous configuration.
The Chamber also rejected Israel’s request under Article 18(1) of the Statute, noting that the Prosecution notified Israel of the commencement of the investigation in 2021.
At that time, despite a request for clarification from the Prosecution, Israel chose not to pursue any request to postpone the investigation.
Furthermore, the Chamber considered that the parameters of the investigation in the situation remained the same, and as a result, there was no need for a new notification to the State of Israel.
In light of this, the judges found that there was no reason to discontinue the consideration of the applications for arrest warrants.
The Court found reasonable grounds to believe that during the relevant period, international humanitarian law relating to the international armed conflict between Israel and Palestine was inapplicable.
