A filing has been submitted to the International Criminal Court (ICC) on behalf of a Palestinian from Gaza calling for 14 Hamas leaders to be investigated for war crimes committed against the Palestinian people, an American lawyer said last week.
The legal move, which was made in December, has gone unanswered even as ICC prosecutors have reportedly requested a warrant for the arrest of Israel’s finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich.
The filing, the first such against the terror organization on behalf of a Palestinian, was made for a Gazan who lost his spouse, children, a parent, nieces and nephews during the two-year war sparked by the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack on southern Israel, according to his legal team.
“The atrocity crimes perpetrated by Hamas against [REDACTED] family members, and against substantially all of the Palestinian civilian inhabitants of Gaza, constitute grave breaches of international criminal law,” the filing reads. “Yet to this day, there has never been a disclosed OTP [Office of the Prosecutor] investigation or request for issuance of warrants for any of the Hamas leaders ... complicit in war crimes and crimes against humanity that they committed against the civilian Gazan population.”
The submission lists an array of war crimes that Hamas is alleged to have committed against Palestinians in Gaza including: utilizing the presence of civilians or other protected persons as human shields; attacking civilians; intentionally directing attacks against civilian objects; willfully causing great suffering; destruction and appropriation of property; excessive incidental death, injury, or damage; attacking protected objects; committing outrages upon personal dignity; using, conscripting, or enlisting children; sentencing or execution without due process.
“We don’t stop seeking justice because the court does not want to respond,” attorney Elliot Malin of Reno, Nevada, told JNS last week. “We will continue kicking on the door until they deliver justice for the victims.”
The International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant on November 21, 2024, for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Gaza war.
Both deny the charges and accuse ICC chief prosecutor Karim Khan of bias and conflicts of interest.
The court had also issued a warrant for Mohammed Deif, head of Hamas’ armed wing, over the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks that triggered Israel’s offensive in Gaza, but canceled it after he was killed by Israel.
Requests for warrants for two other senior Hamas figures, Yahya Sinwar and Ismail Haniyeh, also subsequently killed by Israel, were also withdrawn.
Khan himself went on a leave of absence last year following allegations of sexual misconduct toward an employee, with the management and administration of his office now being led by his deputy prosecutors.
