Karim Khan’s defence of Gaza war crimes allegations against Netanyahu comes amid delays over ceasefire ratification.
The International Criminal Court (ICC) chief prosecutor has defended the organisation’s issuing of arrest warrants for Israel’s prime minister and former defence chief, adding that the country failed to probe war crimes allegations itself.
Karim Khan, speaking in an interview on Thursday with the Reuters news agency, said the ICC had not seen “any real effort” by Israel to take “action that would meet the established jurisprudence”, adding that he hoped the situation would change.
ICC judges issued arrest warrants last November for Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity during Israel’s war on Gaza.
An Israeli investigation could have led to the case being handed back to Israeli courts under so-called complementary principles. Khan said Israel could still demonstrate its willingness to investigate, even after warrants were issued.
This seems unlikely since Israel has rejected the jurisdiction of the Hague-based ICC, denying war crimes despite its apparent failure to investigate the claims.
The United States, Israel’s main ally, is also not a member of the ICC. Last week, the US Congress voted to sanction the court in protest against the warrants, a move Khan described as “unwanted and unwelcome”.
Khan said Israel had very good legal expertise, but had not used its judges, prosecutors and legal instruments “to properly scrutinise the allegations that we’ve seen in the occupied Palestinian territories”.
Khan’s comments came a day after Israel and Hamas reached a ceasefire deal in Gaza following more than 460 days of war.
Under pressure from hardliners in his government, who say the war has not achieved its objective of wiping out Hamas, Netanyahu delayed key meetings of the security cabinet and the cabinet, which were supposed to vote on the deal on Thursday.
On Friday, Netanyahu’s office said approval was imminent, with the security cabinet voting on the ceasefire accord that day, paving the way for government ministers to give it their final assent in a full cabinet meeting.
However, a report in The Times of Israel said the second meeting would only be held on Saturday night, with full ratification coming after a mandatory 24-hour grace period to raise objections, raising the possibility that the ceasefire will not come into effect on Sunday as initially planned.
Mustafa Barghouti, the secretary-general of political party the Palestinian National Initiative, told media that Netanyahu ran out of options to stop a ceasefire from being implemented.
“He manipulated and tried to postpone it and to procrastinate because his main goal is to keep his government together. But it is very clear now that he cannot manoeuvre any more,” he said.
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