Johannesburg – France and Australia have joined South Africa in supporting the independence of the International Criminal Court (ICC), which has requested arrest warrants for leaders from Israel, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and those from Hamas.
Earlier this week on Monday ICC chief prosecutor applied for arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Hamas’s leader in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar, after gathering evidence of war crimes.
Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant and Hamas’s political leader Ismail Haniyeh, along with the group’s military chief Mohammed Deif, were also included in the arrest warrant request.
ICC judges will now decide whether they believe the evidence is sufficient to issue arrest warrants, which could take weeks or months.
Commenting on the development, France said it supports the ICC.
Agence France-Presse reports that in a statement released late Monday, the foreign ministry said: “France supports the international criminal court, its independence, and the fight against impunity in all situations”.
Australia said it respects the ICC and its important role in upholding international law.
The Guardian in Australia quotes a Foreign Affairs spokesperson as saying: “The decision on whether to issue arrest warrants is a matter for the Court in the independent exercise of its functions,” adding, “The decision on whether to issue arrest warrants is a matter for the Court in the independent exercise of its functions.”
On Monday, South Africa said, “The law must be applied equally to all in order to uphold the international rule of law, ensure accountability for those that commit heinous crimes, and protect the rights of victims”.
To this end, the Rome statute is premised on holding those responsible for atrocity crimes accountable for their conduct.
President Ramaphosa said: “South Africa is committed 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.”
This commitment together with the paralysis experienced in the United Nations Security Council, preventing it from exercising its peace and security mandate concerning the conflict in Gaza, resulted in South Africa approaching the principal judicial organ of the United Nations, the International Court of Justice based on the Genocide Convention, to restrain Israeli action and protect Palestinian civilians and non-combatants.
The Gaza Health Ministry says 35 562 Palestinians have been killed in the Israeli Gaza offensive since Oct 7, when Hamas attacked killed more than 1 100 people in Israel, and took over 200 others as hostages.
Journalists, medical personnel, and aid workers have also been killed during attacks on Gaza by the Israeli Denfence Force.
The subsequent widespread deprivation of food and other basic necessities and the blocking of humanitarian assistance to the Palestinian civilian population in Gaza resulted in unprecedented levels of starvation.
This situation has formed the basis for South Africa’s request to the Court to order additional provisional measures against Israel.
“We have also consistently held that all participants to the conflict must ensure that fighting and hostilities come to an immediate end, that all hostages must be released immediately, and that Israel immediately withdraws its military forces from Gaza,” said President Ramaphosa.
“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.”
Reacting to the ICC move, Israel slammed the demand targeting Netanyahu and Gallant as a “historical disgrace”, while Hamas said it “strongly condemns” the move.
US President Joe Biden denounced the application by the ICC prosecutor for an arrest warrant for Israel’s prime minister and defense minister, saying it was “outrageous”.
