'A watershed moment': What do ICC's warrants against Israeli leaders mean?

The International Criminal Court announced it had issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant over war crimes it accuses them of carrying out in Palestinian territories, including Gaza.

Experts described the move as a "significant moment" amid growing calls for the accountability of Israel's genocidal acts in the besieged Palestinian enclave.

Speaking to TRT World, Neve Gordon, a professor of human rights law at Queen Mary University of London, describes the arrest warrants against Israeli leaders as a watershed moment.

"This is an extremely significant moment, in fact, a watershed as far as warrants against any allies of the West and US are concerned."

Talking about the ground implications of these arrest warrants, Professor Gordon said that now it would be difficult for these Israeli leaders to venture out of Israel.

"They have been branded as war criminals now, and these leaders can't travel to any country without getting arrested", he added.

'Boycott them'

He also added that countries hosting international events, such as trade and security summits, have no choice but to boycott them.

Signifying the impact of these arrest warrants on the course of Israel's war on Gaza, he said:

"Countries should ideally stop selling arms and bombs to Israel, whose top leaders are under legal scrutiny and are now war criminals."

More warrants coming

The Hague court's Pre-Trial Chamber said it "issued warrants of arrest for two individuals, Mr Benjamin Netanyahu and Mr Yoav Gallant, for crimes against humanity and war crimes committed from at least 8 October 2023 until at least 20 May 2024, the day the Prosecution filed the applications for warrants of arrest."

Professor Gordon expects that the process of issuing arrest warrants against Israeli leaders will not end here.

"Still, more warrants may be issued in due course of time against other liable Israeli officials".

The warrants come as Israel’s genocidal offensive in Gaza recently entered its second year, having already killed some 44,000 Palestinians, most of them women and children, and injured over 103,000 others.

On their alleged crimes, the court said it "found reasonable grounds" to believe that Netanyahu and Gallant "each bear criminal responsibility for the following crimes as co-perpetrators for committing the acts jointly with others: the war crime of starvation as a method of warfare; and the crimes against humanity of murder, persecution, and other inhumane acts."

The Israeli onslaught has displaced almost the entire population of the territory amid an ongoing and deliberate blockade that has led to severe shortages of food, clean water, and medicine, pushing the population to the brink of starvation