The International Criminal Court Friday rejected Israel’s bid to appeal against arrest warrants for its Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former defense minister Yoav Gallant over the war crimes in Gaza.
In a ruling that made headlines around the world, the ICC in November found “reasonable grounds” to believe Netanyahu and Gallant bore “criminal responsibility” for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
The court rejected this on July 16, saying there was “no legal basis” for quashing the warrants while the jurisdiction challenge was pending.
The arrest warrants confirm that Netanyahu and Galant committed war crimes and crimes against humanity, including using starvation as a weapon of war, preventing humanitarian aid from entering civilians in the Gaza Strip, in addition to widespread targeting of the population and civilian infrastructure during military operations.
