of the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant A lawsuit was filed against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on allegations of war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Gaza Strip. Arrest warrants were also issued for Israel’s former defense minister Yoav Gallant and Hamas military chief Muhammad Deif, who Israel said he killed in August.

ICC chief prosecutor Karim Kahn An arrest warrant was requested in May.

Israel disputes the allegations against Netanyahu and Gallant, which include the “war crime of starvation as a method of warfare and the crimes of murder, cruelty and other inhumane acts against humanity.”

Here’s what the warrants mean and what might happen next.

What is ICC?

Located in The Hague, Netherlands, the ICC was established on 17 July 1998. Rome StatuteIt is an international agreement that entered into force in July 2002.

According to the court, the establishment of the ICC arose from the need for a permanent international court to address crimes in acts of war. It aims to help “end impunity for the perpetrators of the most serious crimes of concern to the international community.”

32 cases were heard in court, each consisting of 18 judges from different countries, elected by the member states and with non-renewable terms of office for 9 years..

The ICC says its judges have issued 59 arrest warrants, including for Netanyahu, Gallant and Deif.

ICC in March 2023 issued an arrest warrant A lawsuit was filed against Russian President Vladimir Putin for allegedly committing war crimes against Ukraine. Arrest warrants Also published for then-Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi with his son Saif al-Islam Gaddafi and intelligence chief Abdullah al-Sanoussi in 2011.

Twenty-one people appeared before the ICC and were held in the detention centre. According to the court, ICC judges handed down 11 convictions and 4 acquittals. The ICC said charges against seven people were dropped over their deaths and 30 people were free.

The court focuses on four types of crimes

The Court has international jurisdiction over four types of crimes: crimes against humanity, genocide, crimes of aggression and war crimes.

The ICC notes that the court does not have its own police force and relies on other countries for support “in making arrests, transferring arrested persons to the ICC detention center in The Hague, freezing suspects’ assets and executing sentences.”

Under the Rome Statute, ICC member states are obliged to arrest a person on their territory for whom there is an arrest warrant.

of ICC 124 state parties33 are from Africa, 19 from Eastern Europe and 25 from Western Europe and other countries such as Canada. The United States is not a state party and neither is Israel.

Russia and Ukraine are also not members of the ICC and Putin was not arrested.

What happens next? Will Netanyahu be arrested?

The ICC’s arrest warrants are a significant move by the international court to arrest a world leader.

“They send a very strong signal against impunity and a very strong signal to all parties to comply with international humanitarian law, international criminal law and, above all, to protect the rights and security of civilians,” former Ambassador David Scheffer said. An expert on war crimes issues and a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations during the Clinton administration. I told NPR before.

Now that arrest warrants have been issued, it is up to ICC party states to enforce the orders, make arrests if Netanyahu or others arrive in their countries, and send them to the ICC for detention.

Scheffer said Netanyahu and Gallant “can travel to many Middle Eastern countries without fear of arrest because they are not parties to the Rome Statute.”

For example, Egypt and Saudi Arabia are not ICC members.

“Only Jordan is in their neighborhood. So they have the flexibility to maneuver diplomatically,” Scheffer said of Israeli politicians.

If Netanyahu and others do not appear before the ICC or are not arrested, the court says, “legal applications can be made, but hearings cannot begin.”

While it is unlikely that Netanyahu and Gallant will surrender or be arrested, if either event occurs, they will face legal action in court and potentially face fines.

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