ICC Arrest Warrants for Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant — Pre-Trial Chamber I, 21 November 2024

On 20 May 2024, ICC Prosecutor Karim A.A. Khan KC announced that his office had filed applications before Pre-Trial Chamber I for five arrest warrants: for Hamas leaders Yahya Sinwar, Mohammed Diab Ibrahim Al-Masri (“Deif”), and Ismail Haniyeh in connection with the attacks of 7 October 2023 — including the crimes against humanity of extermination and murder, the war crimes of hostage-taking and torture, and rape and other forms of sexual violence — and for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Minister of Defence Yoav Gallant in connection with the war in Gaza, including the war crime of starvation of civilians as a method of warfare, intentionally directing attacks against the civilian population, extermination and/or murder, persecution, and other inhumane acts as crimes against humanity.

On 21 November 2024, Pre-Trial Chamber I unanimously issued two decisions rejecting challenges by the State of Israel under articles 18 and 19 of the Rome Statute, and issued warrants of arrest for Mr Netanyahu and Mr Gallant for crimes committed from at least 8 October 2023 until at least 20 May 2024. The Chamber found reasonable grounds to believe that each bears criminal responsibility as co-perpetrator for the war crime of starvation as a method of warfare and the crimes against humanity of murder, persecution, and other inhumane acts, and responsibility as a civilian superior for the war crime of intentionally directing an attack against the civilian population. The same day, the Chamber issued a warrant for Deif for crimes against humanity and war crimes committed on and since 7 October 2023; the applications concerning Sinwar and Haniyeh had been withdrawn following confirmation of their deaths. All 124 states parties to the Rome Statute are under an obligation to cooperate with the warrants.

Why it matters

• The first arrest warrants issued by the ICC against senior leaders of a Western-allied state, placing the siege of Gaza within the judicially recognized framework of starvation as a method of warfare.
• The Chamber’s unanimous rejection of Israel’s article 18 and 19 challenges settled the Court’s territorial jurisdiction over Gaza and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, for these cases.
• The warrants bind 124 Rome Statute states parties to arrest and surrender — turning the Gaza record into an enforceable criminal process with named individual defendants.

Key resources

• ICC press release: Pre-Trial Chamber I rejects Israel’s challenges and issues arrest warrants for Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant (21 November 2024)
• Statement of ICC Prosecutor Karim A.A. Khan KC: Applications for arrest warrants in the Situation in the State of Palestine (20 May 2024)
• Situation in the State of Palestine — ICC case page