124 nations are now obligated to arrest Netanyahu if he enters their territory. Marija Carter examines the practical implication of the first-ever ICC indictment of a Western-allied leader

‘We fled with nothing but the clothes on our backs, and our homes were destroyed. The world turned its back on us.’

Ahmed, 25, Palestinian refugee from Jaffa, 1948 (Nakba) (Source: Palestinian Refugee Center testimony, 1948)

‘The General Assembly … resolves that the refugees wishing to return to their homes and live at peace with their neighbours should be permitted to do so at the earliest practicable date.’

UN General Assembly Resolution 194, 1948

‘Our land was taken, our families scattered, and the world remained silent.’

Fatima, 34, Palestinian mother from Nablus, 1950s (Oral History Project, Palestinian Exile)

‘The General Assembly… affirms the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people to self-determination, including the right to independence and sovereignty.’

UN General Assembly Resolution 1514 (XV), 1960

‘We have no rights here. Why is the world watching and doing nothing?’

Yousef, 40, Palestinian teacher from Hebron, 1960s (Interview with Palestinian historian, 1967)

‘The Security Council … calls upon Israel to cease its policies and practices which violate the human rights of the Palestinian people and undermine their right to self-determination.’

UN Security Council Resolution 242, 1967

‘Our children die every day. What is the world waiting for?’

Mariam, 30, Palestinian mother from Gaza, 1980s (Gaza Human Rights Report, 1984)

‘The General Assembly … calls for the immediate cessation of Israeli settlement activities in Palestinian territories, including East Jerusalem, and urges respect for international humanitarian law.’

UN General Assembly Resolution 47/76, 1992

‘(…) [K]eep filming, keep working on what the world needs to see. We can’t stop now. We can’t be tired’

Plestia Alaqad, 22, Palestinian journalist from Gaza, 2024 (Reuters Institute, interview 20 December 2023)

‘Pre-Trial Chamber I of the International Criminal Court … issued warrants of arrest for Mr. Benjamin Netanyahu and Mr. Yoav Gallant, for crimes against humanity and war crimes committed in Gaza.’

International Criminal Court, 21 November 2024

Thursday’s ICC statement follows, by the most conservative estimates, 44,000 deaths in Gaza, including 17,000 children. An additional 3,500 have been killed in Lebanon, primarily in the last six weeks, and 800 in the West Bank. The toll includes 146 journalists and 230 humanitarian-aid workers, 182 of whom were UNRWA staff, marking this genocide as the deadliest conflict for the UN in its near eight decades of efforts striving for world peace.

The ICC’s charges focus on Tel Aviv’s modus operandi in Gaza. Israeli leaders, including Netanyahu, face accusations of targeting civilian infrastructure in violation of Article 8(2)(b)(iv) of the Rome Statute (2002) and Article 18 of the Fourth Geneva Convention (1949) and Additional Protocol I (1977), which criminalise the targeting of medical units and personnel.

Human Rights Watch raised alarms over Israeli’s targeting of the Gaza healthcare system on the 14 November – of 2023. The report noted that even threats of bombing hospitals put the lives of the most vulnerable at risk. Since then, Al Jazeera reports that 162 health institutions were targeted by the IDF, the overwhelming majority of which are now rendered inoperable. At least 100,000 people have been injured within the 25-mile-long Strip. The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs’ Lisa Doughten stated that Gaza now has the highest population of child amputees in modern history. Additionally, 50,000 pregnant women are without access to any maternity care. Over 10,000 people lie buried under the rubble, and without access to even the most basic sanitation, the disease has spread. An emergency round of polio vaccines barely halted the IDF’s carpet bombing campaign.

I witnessed Israel’s bombing strategy firsthand while in Beirut from 25 September to 5 October 2024. Night after night, residents scrambled to evacuate as the IDF issued airstrike warnings just fifteen minutes before MK-84, 2,000-lb bombs began to fall into densely populated residential areas. With street lights off, people flooded the streets of Dahiyeh, carrying nothing. Nothing but their children and cats. Both thick flows of the Hamed Frangieh Avenue were filled with cars, motorcycles and pedestrians heading only in one direction – out. Within the ten days I was there, 25% of Lebanon’s entire population was displaced. Imagine 25% of Britain on the move within that time frame, as a foreign country carpet bombs south London. Now consider that $1 equals 100,000 Lebanese Lira. We often had no aid to distribute.

Israel’s targeting of humanitarian workers and medical facilities – part of the broader pattern of destruction – directly violates Article 8(2)(b)(ix) of the Rome Statute, which condemns attacks on healthcare personnel. Two of the murdered UNRWA aid workers were my friends. They died defending humanity’s honour.

And where bombs and disease do not reach, hunger creeps in. By the end of October 2024, the IPC food-security initiative showed 6% of the enclave’s population in Phase 5 of its ranking – ‘catastrophic hunger’. The UN projection expects 16% by the end of this month. Ultimately, all 1.8 million Palestinians in Gaza are at the risk of starvation, with 0% of the population in Phase 1 (security), 9% in Phase 2 (moderate reduction in food consumption), 34% at Phase 3 (crisis – severe enough to affect nutrition and livelihoods), and 41% at Phase 4 (widespread emergency). To imagine the life of the remaining 16% in Phase 5 (famine), consider that the average adult in Rafah cannot count on more than 245 calories a day. Nearly 90% of the population of the Gaza Strip has been displaced, many repeatedly.

Time to escalate protest

For over thirteen months, international law itself stood on trial each and every day. Despite Thursday’s significant development, the practical implications remain unclear. While state leaders have been successfully prosecuted before (Prosecutor v Slobodan Milošević (Decision on Initial Indictment) (ICTY, 24 May 1999)), a parallel case to consider concerns Sudan’s former President Omar al-Bashir. Indicted by the ICC in 2009 and 2010 for war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide related to the Darfur conflict (Prosecutor v Omar Hassan Ahmad Al Bashir (Warrant of Arrest) (ICC, 4 March 2009)), with charges including unlawful killing, torture, forced displacement, the use of rape as a weapon of war, and targeting the ethnic groups Fur, Masalit, and Zaghawa, al-Bashir remained in power for years, evading capture as Sudan and several allied states refused to cooperate with the ICC.

Israel is similarly not a signatory to the Rome Statute, rejecting the ICC’s jurisdiction. However, the pressure on its allies, especially Western powers like the United States and the United Kingdom, grows as the international community increasingly demands accountability.

Britain, which continues to provide, inter alia, weapons and armed capacities to Israel, may face significant legal and diplomatic consequences itself. Under Articles 6 and 7 of the Arms Trade Treaty (2014), the UK is obligated to ensure that arms transfers do not contribute to human rights violations or war crimes. The ICC warrants add pressure on the UK and other nations to reconsider their military support for a regime facing charges of systematic abuses, especially given internal pressures within Israel rendering Netanyahu’s fate sealed either way.

The international community, particularly Israel’s allies, will play a crucial role in determining whether this decision leads to significant real-world consequences within the foreseeable future. This ruling should not be underestimated, and not only for the sake of the precedent – these warrants are the first in the Court’s history issued against a Western-aligned leader. The fact that Tel Aviv is now formally charged with war crimes will continue to fuel calls for accountability and diplomatic isolation, especially as evidence of Israeli atrocities continues to pile up, and Israel’s key allies face existential domestic pressures of their own.

The Palestinian solidarity movement is the largest sustained wave of protests in British history. In the span of 412 days, the UK went from Israeli flags on Downing Street, talk of banning the Palestinian flag and the chant ‘from the river to the sea’, and Rishi Sunak pledging ‘unconditional support’, to resuming funding to UNRWA, suspending of a set of arms licences, five pro-Palestine MPs, £50 million cost to the police over 60,000 shifts, sacking of a Home Secretary, defeat of the anti-BDS bill, millions of pounds of damage and contract losses to Israeli arms suppliers such as Elbit at the hands of Palestine Action, the USS, other pension funds and even councils such as Islington selling off Israeli assets, and billions in profit lost by companies on the BDS list. Keir Starmer, mindful of his tanking ratings and facing a multitude of domestic crises, is in a desperate position. 

Now is the time to escalate, add pressure on the weakest link in Israel’s genocide support and ensure our taxes do not continue to fund a genocidal regime run by an international fugitive.