The International Criminal Court today issued an arrest warrant for Benjamin Netanyahu for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
Several other men are also wanted including Israel’s former defence minister Yoav Gallant and the chief of Hamas’s armed wing, Mohammed Deif.
The warrants turn the Israeli prime minister and the other men into internationally wanted suspects.
And under international law, any state that has signed up to the ICC’s Rome Statute is obliged to detain the men ‘on sight’.
But its practical implications could be limited since Israel and its major ally, the United States, are not members of the court and several of the Hamas officials have been subsequently 𝓀𝒾𝓁𝓁ed in the conflict.
The ICC said Israel’s acceptance of the court’s jurisdiction was not required, with the men all liable for arrest if they travel to any of the more than 120 member countries.
Of the 124 countries which are signed up 33 are African states; 19 are Asia-Pacific states; 19 are from Eastern Europe; 28 are from Latin America and the Caribbean and 25 are from Western European and other states.
