EDITORIAL: A welcome bid to inject justice into a brutal war

As the war in Gaza grinds into its seventh month, the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court has applied for warrants of arrest for top Israeli and Hamas leaders for war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Karim Khan’s application names Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his defence minister Yoav Gallant (for extermination, using starvation as a method of war, denial of humanitarian supplies and deliberately targeting civilians), as well as Hamas’s Yahya Sinwar, Mohammed Deif and Ismail Haniyeh (for extermination, murder, hostage-taking, rape, sexual assault and torture).

The conflict has exacted a devastating toll. Since Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel, in which about 1,200 people died and 250 were taken hostage, about 35,000 Palestinians have been killed, according to the Palestinian health authority. About 1.7-million (more than 75%) of the population is displaced and 1.1-million are suffering catastrophic levels of hunger, according to the World Food Programme.

So Khan’s application must be welcomed as a necessary step to punish those who have waged war with impunity

There’s no doubt of the horror of the October 7 attack, and no less odious has been Israel’s response:   throttling aid and essential supplies to a displaced and starving population and launching strikes on hospitals and refugee settlements. So Khan’s application must be welcomed as a necessary step to punish those who have waged war with impunity.

For now, no arrest is imminent. For a start, the application must first be heard by a panel of three judges, who will make a determination on whether the matter should proceed. And if it does, Israel is no signatory to the Rome Statute, so any arrest and prosecution could only be effected elsewhere.

Still, this is a step towards accountability — an opportunity to “prove, tangibly, that the lives of all human beings have equal value”, Khan writes.