Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday described the request submitted by the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court to the Court’s First Pre-Trial Chamber to issue arrest warrants against Netanyahu and his Defense Minister, Yoav Galant, as a “scandal,” according to what Israeli media reported.
During a Likud Party session in the Knesset, Netanyahu said about the statements of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court that it is a “scandal”, and “this order will not stop me or us,” in his first comment on the actions of the Prosecutor of the Court.
Earlier, Monday, the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Karim Khan, said that he was seeking to issue arrest warrants against Netanyahu and Gallant, on the grounds of “committing war crimes.”
The request included, in addition to Netanyahu and Gallant, Hamas leaders Yahya Sinwar, Ismail Haniyeh, and Mohammed Deif.
On Monday, Israeli politicians of all stripes rejected the statement of the International Criminal Prosecutor, and some of them described putting the Prime Minister and Minister of Defense on an equal footing with the leaders of the Hamas movement, which is classified on terrorist lists in the United States and other countries, as “moral blindness.”
The war broke out in the Gaza Strip, following the unprecedented attack by Hamas (classified as a terrorist organization in the United States and other countries) on Israel on October 7, killing 1,200 people, most of them civilians, including women and children, according to the Israeli authorities.
In response to the attack, Israel pledged to “eliminate Hamas,” and has since carried out a bombing campaign followed by ground operations since October 27, resulting in the killing of more than 35,000 Palestinians, most of them women and children, according to what the health authorities in the Strip announced.
Earlier, The Eastern Herald reported the reason for the invasion of Gaza, also the last round of negotiations in Cairo aimed at brokering a ceasefire to halt Israel’s invasion of the Gaza Strip, which has resulted in genocide and ethnic cleansing of millions of Palestinians, ended without resolution, further deepening the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. Despite intensive discussions, Israel’s rejection of proposed terms for a ceasefire agreement and its subsequent ground invasion in Rafah indicate a calculated strategy to maintain leverage.
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Also, the United Nations Special Rapporteur in the occupied Palestinian territories, Francesca Albanese, labeled Israel’s military aggression in Gaza as genocide, citing over 30,000 Palestinian deaths, including more than 13,000 children, and 71,000 injuries. She urged immediate sanctions and an arms embargo on Israel. Israel rejected the findings, maintaining its conflict is with Hamas, not civilians. Gulf and African nations supported Albanese’s report, while the US, Israel’s ally, abstained from the session.
