Arrest warrants sought for Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu, Hamas leader for war crimes: International Criminal Court

( NYPost )

The International Criminal Court announced Monday it is seeking arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar on war crime charges.

The charges are tied to the deadly Oct. 7 terror attacks on Israel and the subsequent war in Gaza, the court’s chief prosecutor, Karim Khan, said in a statement Monday.

Warrants are also being sought for Israel’s Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and two top Hamas leaders.The charges against the Hamas terror chiefs include extermination, murder, torture, rape and taking hostages, all as war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Israel is accused of “wilful killing,” “starvation of civilians as a method of warfare” and “wilfully causing great suffering.”

“My office submits that the war crimes alleged in these applications were committed in the context of an international armed conflict between Israel and Palestine, and a non-international armed conflict between Israel and Hamas (together with other Palestinian Armed Groups) running in parallel,” the prosecutor said.

Of the Hamas bloodshed on Oct. 7, Khan said he saw for himself the “devastating scenes of these attacks and the profound impact of the unconscionable crimes.”

“Speaking with survivors, I heard how the love within a family, the deepest bonds between a parent and a child, were contorted to inflict unfathomable pain through calculated cruelty and extreme callousness. These acts demand accountability,” he said.