ICC bars chief judge from disclosing Israeli arrest warrants: Report
The International Criminal Court (ICC) has reportedly imposed restrictions on its chief prosecutor, Karim Khan, amid reports that he is seeking additional arrest warrants against Israeli officials over the occupying regime’s unbridled onslaught against Palestinians in the besieged Gaza Strip.
British newspaper The Guardian said in a report on Monday that Khan “has been restrained from publicizing any new applications for arrest warrants in the court’s Palestine case after judges ordered they must be kept secret.”
Citing sources within the court, the paper said the order was “issued behind closed doors this month,” and Khan “can no longer make public announcements referring to the existence of his applications for arrest warrants or his intention to seek them.”
The ICC prosecutor recently submitted or is due to submit new warrant requests, at least one of which has either been approved or is close to approval, according to The Guardian.
“The new order comes as Khan is preparing a fresh round of applications for Israeli suspects in connection to alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in the occupied Palestinian territories,” the paper said.
The identity of the warrant’s target is being kept confidential, reflecting a growing rift between Khan and ICC judges over his approach, particularly his public announcements regarding sensitive investigations.
The judges claim that Khan’s approach, in which he publicly announces his decision to seek warrants, is detached from routine practice and places pressure on the judges considering the applications.
Khan has already secured arrest warrants against Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former minister of military affairs Yoav Gallant over their genocidal crimes in Gaza.
The ruling, issued last November, obliged all the 125 countries that signed the Rome Statute establishing the ICC, to detain and surrender the pair to the Hague-based court.
In a press release on Thursday, the Appeals Chamber of the ICC announced that it had rejected Israel’s request to cancel or suspend the arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant over their crimes against humanity and war crimes related to Israel’s ongoing genocide against Gazans.
“Investigations indicate that Netanyahu and Gallant oversaw attacks targeting the civilian population and used starvation as a method of warfare,” the ICC emphasized.
Israel unleashed its genocidal war on Gaza on October 7, 2023, after the Hamas resistance group carried out its historic operation against the occupying entity in retaliation for the regime’s intensified atrocities against the Palestinian people.
The Tel Aviv regime has so far killed at least 52,314 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and injured 117,792 others, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.
