STORY: :: A legal expert explains the ICC's process after arrest

warrants were issued for Netanyahu and a Hamas leader

:: November 21, 2024

:: Jens Iverson, Assistant professor, Leiden University

"There are different parts of the ICC. So one part, the prosecution, has to ask another part, a group of judges, the pretrial chamber, and say, essentially, dear judges, I think there's enough evidence here and enough reason to issue an arrest warrant. And so they have to find, first and foremost, that there's reasonable grounds to believe that a crime within the jurisdiction of the court has been committed. Evidently, the three judges believe that's the case for these three individuals." // "Friends of the court (the ICC) really need to step up and show that they are willing to back the court. And so you may have the reputation that, boy, it's this big, powerful court with lots of resources and lots of cooperation. But we haven't had sufficient cooperation. When the president of Russia visits Mongolia, there isn't sufficient cooperation in terms of an arrest. And when the court asks for more money, the Assembly of States Parties does not always follow what's indicated here."

In their decision to grant the warrants, the ICC judges said there were reasonable grounds to believe Netanyahu and Gallant were criminally responsible for starvation in Gaza and the persecution of Palestinians.

The warrant for Al-Masri lists charges of mass killings during the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks on Israel that triggered the Gaza war, including rape and the taking of hostages. The prosecution indicated it would continue to gather information with respect to his reported death.