On 20 May 2024, the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Karim Khan, asked judges to issue arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defence Minister Yoav Gallant and three Hamas leaders, including Yahya Sinwar and Mohammed Deif. The charges covered alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity connected to the conflict that erupted on 7 October 2023.
The request was a landmark in the court’s 22-year history: never before had it sought warrants against the leader of a major Western-aligned democracy, and never had its reach into an active conflict been so politically charged. Israel rejected the court’s jurisdiction and condemned the move as antisemitic, while Hamas and its supporters accused the court of equivalencing an aggressor with those defending themselves.
Eighteen months on, the warrants matter less for any immediate arrest than for the precedent they set: that the leaders of a modern military fighting in dense urban terrain could face individual criminal accountability before the ICC. The request hardened diplomatic lines, with Washington opposing the court and several European states pledging to honour its warrants if the leaders travelled to their soil.