The Hague: The International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants on Thursday for Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and his former defence minister, Yoav Gallant, for war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Gaza war.

According to Qatar News Agency, the ICC judges stated that there were reasonable grounds to believe Netanyahu and Gallant were criminally responsible for acts including murder, persecution, and the use of starvation as a weapon of war. These acts were identified as part of a “widespread and systematic attack against the civilian population of Gaza”.

Netanyahu and Gallant face charges of war crimes in Gaza, as the Israeli war on the Strip has been ongoing for more than a year. The conflict has resulted in the deaths of more than 43,000 people and has wounded over 104,000, the majority of whom are children and women.

In January, the International Court of Justice ordered provisional measures in the case filed by South Africa in December against the Israeli entity for vi
olating the 1948 UN Convention on the Prevention of Genocide.