ICC issued warrants for Netanyahu, Gallant and Hamas leader. So what happens now?

Source and FULL article can be seen on this link: USA Today

The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants Thursday for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu; his former defense minster, Yoav Gallant; and Ibrahim al-Masri, a senior Hamas official.

The warrants mean the court has reason to believe all three have committed war crimes and crimes against humanity. But their arrests are far from guaranteed.

What crimes are Netanyahu and Gallant charged with?

The court said it has reasonable grounds to believe Netanyahu and Gallant are responsible for using "starvation as a method of warfare," which it classifies as a war crime.

The pair are also suspected of crimes against humanity as "part of a widespread and systematic attack" on civilians in Gaza, including murder, persecution, and "other inhumane acts."

According to international prosecutors, Netanyahu and Gallant deprived civilians in Gaza of necessary supplies for their survival, including food and medicine, and impeded essential humanitarian aid from entering Gaza.

More:'Worst-case' famine possible in Gaza as 1.84 million acutely malnourished, report says

Those actions, prosecutors claim, "created conditions of life calculated to bring about the destruction of part of the civilian population in Gaza, which resulted in the death of civilians, including children due to malnutrition and dehydration."

Netanyahu and Gallant also may bear "criminal responsibility" for intentionally attacking civilians, according to the court.

The alleged crimes took place from the day after the Oct. 7 attacks on Israel last year through at least May 20, when ICC prosecutor Karim Khan filed applications for the arrest warrants. Netanyahu and Gallant rejected the charges and refused to turn themselves in for arrest. "Israel utterly rejects the false and absurd charges of the International Criminal Court, a biased and discriminatory political body," Netanyahu said in a statement on Thursday. "Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will not give in to pressure.  He will continue to pursue all the objectives that Israel set out to achieve in its just war against Hamas and the Iranian axis of terror," the statement read.

Gallant said the court's decision “places the State of Israel and the murderous leaders of Hamas in the same row.”

“The decision sets a dangerous precedent against the right to self-defense and moral warfare and encourages murderous terrorism,” he said in a statement.

President Joe Biden also rejected the ICC decision, and his White House reaffirmed its position from May when the ICC initially requested the warrants.

"The ICC issuance of arrest warrants against Israeli leaders is outrageous," Biden said in a press release. "Let me be clear once again: whatever the ICC might imply, there is no equivalence — none — between Israel and Hamas.  We will always stand with Israel against threats to its security." 

Will Netanyahu and Gallant be arrested?

Netanyahu and Gallant won't be arrested on Israeli soil, since Israel has not signed onto the Rome Statute, the central treaty that sets out the court's jurisdiction and rules.

Since the court has no police force of its own, it must rely on the countries that have signed the Rome Statute to carry out arrests.

That means the arrest warrant could prevent Netanyahu and Gallant from traveling to the 124 countries that have signed the statute, where they could be arrested.

But even countries who have signed the statute sometimes don't necessarily carry out arrests on the ICC's orders. For example, Mongolia, a signatory of the statute, did not arrest Russian President Vladimir Putin when he visited the country in September. Putin is wanted for arrest by the court for alleged crimes connected to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

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