Ambassador Majed Bamya, Deputy Permanent Observer of the State of Palestine to the UN, speaks during a United Nations Security Council meeting on the situation in the Middle East, at the UN headquarters in New York City on November 20, 2024 . (Photo by Michael M Santiago / Getty Images via AFP)
Ramallah, Palestinian Territories: The Palestinian Authority and Hamas both welcomed on Thursday the International Criminal Court's arrests warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defence minister over the Gaza war.
"The State of Palestine welcomed the decision" to issue the warrants against Netanyahu and ex-defence minister Yoav Gallant, the Palestinian Authority said in a statement published by official news agency Wafa.
The ICC said it had found "reasonable grounds" to believe Netanyahu and Gallant bore "criminal responsibility" for the war crime of starvation as a method of warfare, as well as the crimes against humanity of murder, persecution, and other inhumane acts.
"The ICC's decision represents hope and confidence in international law and its institutions," the Palestinian statement said.
Israel's war on Gaza has killed at least 44,056 people in more than 13 months of war, most of them civilians, according to figures from the Gaza Strip's health ministry which the United Nations considers reliable.
