ICC arrest warrants: will there be any witnesses left to Gaza genocide?

Alameen Templeton

The International Criminal Court has taken so long to respond to its prosecutor’s request for arrest warrants for Hamas and Israeli leaders that all the suspects on the Hamas side are now already dead.

Five months have passed since Karim Khan the ICC prosecutor, requested arrest warrants for Yahya Sinwar, Ismael Haniye and Muhammad Deif and Israel tyrants Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant.

“All the Hamas arraigned are now dead. How long will the court drag its feet? Until every Palestinian under fire in Gaza is wiped out? Is the court allowing Israel to ensure there’ll be no witnesses? By Allah, it is hard to come to any other conclusion,” an international lawyer, who asked not to be identified because he is part of proceedings, said.

So far, the court has made a lie of Khan’s statements when he announced the request for arrest warrants: “Today we once again underline that international law and the laws of armed conflict apply to all. No foot soldier, no commander, no civilian leader – no one – can act with impunity.

“Nothing can justify wilfully depriving human beings, including so many women and children, the basic necessities required for life. Nothing can justify the taking of hostages or the targeting of civilians,” Khan said.

But no justification is needed when states have turned to naked power and genocide to enforce their will.

Khan, applied for the warrants in May because he said at the time that he had “reasonable grounds to believe” that the three Hamas leaders shared responsibility for war crimes and crimes against humanity, including “the killing of hundreds of Israeli civilians” in the Hamas-led October 7 attacks in Israel, and the taking of more than 200 hostages.

Now it seems the Hamas trio are destined to be damned, but not defended, at the ICC.

Netanyahu and Gallant remain at large and welcome in the White House that regularly holds telephonic calls with them in addition to regular visits.

Khan requested warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant, because he said there was reason to believe that they also bore responsibility for war crimes and crimes against humanity, including using the starvation as a weapon of war against civilians and directing attacks against civilians.

It seems the court’s judges are not interested in allowing Khan to ever find out if his suspicions about Netanyahu and Gallant were correct or not.