Speaking about the International Criminal Court’s decision on Thursday to issue arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defense chief and Hamas leader Ibrahim Al-Masri, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Iran’s supreme leader, who supports Hamas and Hezbollah militants who are fighting Israel in Gaza and Lebanon, stated on Monday that Israeli leaders should be given death sentences rather than arrest warrants.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was speaking in response to the International Criminal Court’s Thursday decision to issue arrest warrants for
Al-Masri, a Hamas leader, and his former defense chief.
Referring to the Israeli leaders, Khamenei stated, “They issued an arrest warrant, but that’s not enough… These criminal leaders must be given the death penalty.”According to the ICC judges’ ruling, there were reasons to suspect that Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant were accountable for crimes like murder, persecution, and using starvation as a weapon of war.
Israel was outraged by the decision, calling it absurd and shameful. Residents of Gaza said they hoped it would help put an end to the violence and bring war criminals to justice.
Israel has denied war crimes in Gaza and rejected the Hague-based court’s jurisdiction.
Ibrahim Al-Masri, a leader of Hamas, is wanted on charges of mass murder during the October 7, 2023, attacks on Israel that led to the war in Gaza, as well as rape and hostage-taking. Masri, also known as Mohammed Deif, was killed in an airstrike in July, according to Israel.
Truce gathering
A Lebanese official stated that Washington had informed Beirut that an agreement could be made “within hours,” while a senior Israeli official stated on Monday that Israel’s cabinet would convene on Tuesday to approve a ceasefire agreement with Hezbollah.
Although there were still some problems, Israeli officials had earlier stated that an agreement to end the war was approaching. Meanwhile, two senior Lebanese officials expressed cautious optimism despite Israeli strikes on Lebanon.
A senior Israeli official told Reuters that Tuesday’s meeting was meant to approve the terms of a deal that Israel and Lebanon had agreed to, according to US news website Axios, which cited an unnamed senior US official.
