South Africa has welcomed the decision by the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) to pursue arrest warrants against top Israeli and Hamas leaders for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity during the long-running conflict in Gaza and the occupied Palestinian territories.
The announcement by ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan on Monday sets the stage for a potential international legal battle over accountability for violence in one of the world’s most intractable conflicts.
In a statement, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa affirmed his country’s “commitment to the international rule of law, universal respect for human rights and the settlement of all international disputes by negotiation and not war, and the self-determination of all peoples, including the Palestinians.”
Khan said he had found “reasonable grounds” to believe Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, and three Hamas leaders – Yahya Sinwar, Mohammed Diab al-Masri and Ismail Haniyeh – bore criminal responsibility and should be prosecuted.
The Palestinian Authority welcomed the ICC move, while Israel rejected the allegations as “outrageous” and vowed to fight the “baseless” warrants. Hamas has not yet commented.
The arrest warrants relate to the 2021 Hamas-led attack on southern Israel and Israel’s subsequent military operation in Gaza. Khan cited evidence that Israel had “intentionally and systematically deprived the civilian population in all parts of Gaza of objects indispensable to human survival” through its blockade.
He said this was part of a plan to use “starvation as a method of war,” alongside attacks on civilians queuing for food, obstruction of aid delivery, and killings of aid workers that forced agencies to limit Gaza operations.
South Africa has been an outspoken critic of Israel’s treatment of Palestinians. Ramaphosa recalled the “widespread deprivation of food and other basic necessities and the blocking of humanitarian assistance to the Palestinian civilian population in Gaza” that prompted South Africa to approach the International Court of Justice seeking provisional measures against Israel.
The ICC intervention comes amid a stalled peace process and escalating violence in the West Bank, with Israel accused of using excessive force against Palestinian protesters. The last substantive peace talks ended in 2014.
Relations between South Africa and Israel have been strained for decades over Pretoria’s support for the Palestinians. In a long-awaited move, South Africa last year downgraded its embassy in Israel over the continued occupation of Palestinian territories.
The Palestinian Authority has been a member of the ICC since 2015. Israel is not a member, but the court has jurisdiction over Palestinian territories. Previous preliminary inquiries into the conflict by the ICC have stalled.
ICC prosecutions face numerous legal and political hurdles given the court’s lack of enforcement capability for arrests. But South Africa believes efforts to hold perpetrators accountable could provide impetus to revive peace talks.
“We have consistently held that all participants to the conflict must ensure that fighting and hostilities come to an immediate end…and that Israel immediately withdraws its military forces from Gaza,” Ramaphosa said. “This is the only way in which the rights of the Palestinian civilian population can be protected and the basis for sustainable peace can be achieved.”
