Deepened isolation for Israel after prime minister targeted by ICC for arrest

WASHINGTON —  Deepening Israel’s international isolation in the starkest fashion since the start of the 13-month-old war in the Gaza Strip, the Hague-based International Criminal Court said Thursday it had issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his recently dismissed defense minister, Yoav Gallant, over the conduct of the war against the Palestinian militant group Hamas.

The warrants, for alleged criminal responsibility for acts including murder, persecution and starvation as a weapon of war, prompted fury in Israel, which like the United States does not recognize the court’s jurisdiction. It also presented a dilemma for close U.S. allies in Europe, several of which declared that they would honor the warrants and the court’s jurisdiction.

In a statement, Netanyahu’s office said Israel “categorically rejects the absurd and false accusations” and called the court a “biased and discriminatory political body.” Israeli President Isaac Herzog, posting on X, called it a “dark day for justice.” Israel’s main opposition leader, Yair Lapid, also denounced the court’s move, calling it a “reward for terrorism.”

The Biden administration has staunchly supported Israel since the Hamas-led attack of Oct. 7, 2023, on southern Israel, which triggered the war. About 1,200 people were killed and some 250 taken hostage in the assault. Six months ago, when the court’s chief prosecutor said he had requested the warrants, the U.S. condemned the move.

The chief prosecutor at that time also sought arrest warrants for three senior figures from Hamas, all of whom are now confirmed or believed dead. In its announcement Thursday, the court said it issued a warrant anyway for one of them, military chieftain Mohammed Deif, saying it could not confirm Israel’s assertion that it had killed him in a July airstrike.

The other two, Hamas military leader Yahya Sinwar and the group’s political leader, Ismail Haniyeh, were both killed in the intervening months — Sinwar in an encounter with Israeli troops in southern Gaza in October and Haniyeh in a strike in the Iranian capital, Tehran, in July, which was widely attributed to Israel.

Hamas welcomed the issuance of the warrants against the Israeli officials, without mentioning the one against Deif. In a statement posted on its Telegram channel, the group called it an “important historical precedent” and called for more such warrants to be issued.

Until now, Russian President Vladimir Putin had been the only major world leader for whom the court had issued an arrest warrant. That occurred in May, for war crimes in connection with Russia’s nearly 3-year-old full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The Kremlin at the time derided the court’s action.

While symbolic in some respects — the court does not hold trials in absentia — the issuance of the arrest warrants does have one practical effect: the threat of arrest if Netanyahu or Gallant travel to any countries that accept the court’s jurisdiction, which includes most European states. It would not impede their ability to travel to the United States.

The decision by a panel of judges cited what it said were reasonable grounds to believe that Netanyahu and Gallant’s acts encompassed a “widespread and systematic attack against the civilian population of Gaza.” Israel has insisted throughout the war that the Gaza offensive, which has killed about 44,000 Palestinians, according to local health officials, has been conducted in line with international law.

Palestinian casualty figures do not distinguish between combatants and civilians. But immense civilian suffering has prompted intense international criticism of Israel, pitting the Biden administration against European countries with whom it partners closely in other respects, including assisting Ukraine as it tries, with increasing difficulty, to fend off Russia’s invasion.

The Netherlands, where the court is based, was the first to announce it would abide by the arrest warrants. Other European nations swiftly joined in, including Ireland and France, which issued a statement supporting the ICC. The European Union’s top diplomat, Josep Borrell Fontelles, told journalists in Jordan that the court’s decision “has to be respected and implemented.”

Times staff writer Nabih Bulos in Beirut contributed to this report.