ICC issues arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant

The International Criminal Court (ICC) has issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant for alleged “war crimes”. The court said on Thursday that there were “reasonable grounds” to believe Netanyahu and Gallant “intentionally and knowingly deprived the civilian population in Gaza of objects indispensable to their survival”. Predictably Netanyahu’s office rejected the decision and described the move as “anti-Semitic”. However, the Palestinian Authority, which governs the occupied West Bank, said “the ICC’s decision represents hope and confidence in international law and its institutions”. The human rights organisation Amnesty International have stated that the: “wheels of international justice have finally caught up with those alleged to be responsible for war crimes & crimes against humanity in Palestine and Israel”. They went on to state: “There can be no ‘safe haven’ for those alleged to have committed war crimes and crimes against humanity,” it added.

It has been estimated that in Gaza at least 43,972 people, including 17,492 children have been killed. More than than 104,008 people have been injured with more that 11,000 missing. The latest figures from the Palestinian Ministry of Health of casualties in the occupied West Bank are at least 785 people killed, including at least 167 children. They state that more than 6,250 people have been injured. According to the latest data from the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the World Health Organization and the Palestinian government as of November 10, Israeli attacks have damaged more than half of Gaza’s homes (damaged or destroyed); 80 percent of commercial facilities: 87 percent of school buildings; Healthcare facilities - 17 of 36 hospitals are partially functional. Huge damage has also been done to road network and cropland. As of November 20, more than 150 journalists, mostly Palestinians, have been killed since the Israeli attacks war began in early October. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists and the International Federation of Journalists, at least 120 Palestinian, three Lebanese and two Israeli journalists have been killed.