ICC Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan on Monday asked to include Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, and three Hamas leaders: the head of the political bureau, Ismail Haniyeh; its top figure in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar; and the commander of the group’s armed wing, Mohammed Deif.
Khan’s request indicates Israel’s rapid decline towards a moral abyss, the Peace Now NGO, founded by former military personnel, estimated on X.
“These orders are not about anti-Semitism or moral equivalencies, they are about a failure of leadership. That is what the Israeli Government must address. That is what the people of Israel must address. It is necessary to end this war,” it stated.
The organization warned that it is impossible to ignore the ICC’s serious accusations, which include starvation and deliberate harm to civilians. “The current war should have ended a long time ago and we must strive to achieve an agreement based on a two-State solution,” the NGO stressed, warning that “this will be the only way to recover our hostages, create an alternative to Hamas and guarantee security and a better future for Israelis and Palestinians.”
The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories (B’tselem) expressed itself in similar terms, pointing out that “the continued existence of a system of supremacy, violence and oppression inevitably implies the commission of crimes and serious violations of human rights”.
Karim Khan’s announcement was rejected both by the Israeli authorities, who called it “a blood libel,” and Hamas, which accused the ICC of equating “the aggressor with the victim.”
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