President Muizzu welcomes request for Netanyahu arrest warrant

President Dr Mohamed Muizzu today welcomed the decision of the International Criminal Court (ICC) to seek an arrest warrant against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, on war crime charges.

ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan announced on Monday that his office applied for warrants of arrest of both Israeli and Hamas officials for alleged crimes committed during the October 7 attacks initiated by Hamas.

Khan said that they have "reasonable grounds" to believe that Netanyahu and Gallant shoulder “criminal responsibility” for “war crimes and crimes against humanity”.

In response to the announcement, President Dr Mohamed Muizzu wrote on X (formerly Twitter) that Maldives welcomes the decision to seek arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant, and said that this marks a significant step in the quest for justice for the people of Palestine.

"As a State Party to the Rome Statute, the Maldives is confident that the Prosecutor's Office has gathered enough evidence to prove Israel has conducted war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza. We will explore every avenue to support the people of Palestine in the international arena," he concluded.

Hamas leaders also being sought arrest warrants for war crimes and crimes against humanity include Yahya Sinwar, Mohamed Diab Ibrahim al-Masri (also known as Deif) and Ismail Haniyeh.

Once the requests are submitted to the International Criminal Court, the decision to grant or dismiss the request will lay in the hands of the court judges.

Palestine's ethnic cleansing by Israeli forces began as early as the 1948 Nakba and since then Palestine has become a besieged enclave overtime.

The current events taking place in Palestine began on October 7th after Hamas initiated an attack on Israel, killing over 800 and capturing 240 hostages according to Israeli authorities. Since then Israel has initiated a war against Palestinians with the claim of wanting to eliminate Hamas and rescue the hostages.

However, during this time Israel's forces have bombed hospitals and schools, designated safety routes for evacuation, carpet bombed residential areas, while necessary humanitarian aid remains blocked into Gaza strip through Rafah borders.

Citing multiple war crimes committed by Israel, South Africa initiated legal action against Israel at the ICJ which issued a temporary refrain from any acts that could fall under the Genocide Convention and to ensure its troops commit no genocidal acts against Palestinians in Gaza. However, compliance is yet to be seen.