While legal findings of war crimes such as genocide are typically made by judges, the charity’s accusations do little to clear up charges already leveled against the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu, his former defense minister Yove Galante, and Hamas military chief Mohamed Deif for crimes against humanity. Israel says it killed Deif, the head of the Qassam brigade, in August.
Israel responded angrily to the arrest warrants, with Netanyahu’s office calling them “anti-Semitic” and denying the accusations as “ridiculous and false.” Israel has appealed the ICC arrest warrant, Foreign Ministry spokesman Oren Mamostan told NBC News on Sunday.
The war in Gaza has lasted for 14 months, and according to local officials, Israeli military operations in Gaza have killed more than 45,000 people. Israeli forces entered Gaza in response to a terrorist attack on October 7, 2023, which killed approximately 1,200 Israelis and took approximately 250 hostages, according to Israeli statistics.
About 100 hostages remain held by Hamas and other armed groups, but a third are believed to be dead.
Israel has long waged a war against Iran-backed militias, causing death tolls and severe destruction in Gaza, but Hamas’s response appears limited in much of Gaza, although its operations continue. Andreas Krieg is a senior lecturer at the School of Security Studies at King’s College London.