The chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), Karim Khan, controversially applied for arrest warrants to be issued for top Israeli and Hamas officials on May 20. He has accused them of bearing criminal responsibility for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed during the Hamas-led October 7 attacks and Israel’s subsequent assault on Gaza.
The move has been praised by human rights groups as well as countries including France and South Africa. By contrast, it has outraged the leaders of other countries such as the US and the UK.
Israel’s defence minister, Yoav Gallant, has rejected the arrest warrants sought for him and the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, saying Khan had drawn a “despicable” parallel between Israel and Hamas. At the same time, Hamas said it denounced the decision to “equate the victim with the executioner”.
