Iraq commends ICC for Netanyahu arrest warrant

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iraq on Thursday welcomed the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for “crimes against humanity.” Baghdad labeled the move as “courageous.”

“The Iraqi government appreciates the courageous and just stance taken by the International Criminal Court, by issuing two arrest warrants against the Prime Minister of the Zionist entity and its former Minister of Defense,” said Iraqi government spokesperson Basim al-Awadi in a statement.

The ICC earlier in the day said it issued the warrants of arrest for Natanyahu and Gallant for “crimes against humanity and war crimes committed.”

In October last year, the Palestinian Hamas militia group launched an unprecedented attack on southern Israel, which triggered Israeli retaliatory attacks against the group in Gaza Strip. The war has spilled over to neighboring Lebanon.

“There are reasonable grounds to believe that both individuals intentionally and knowingly deprived the civilian population in Gaza of objects indispensable to their survival,” the ICC statement detailed.

Natanyahu’s office said in a statement that “Israel utterly rejects the false and absurd charges of the International Criminal Court, a biased and discriminatory political body.”

European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell in a post on X said that “these decisions are binding on all States party to the Rome Statute, which includes all EU Member States.”

On Thursday, the US, as a permanent member of the UN Security Council, used its veto power to halt a resolution for an unconditional ceasefire in Gaza.

“Despite having secured 14 votes in favour, the draft resolution put forward by the 10 elected members of the Security Council (E10), failed to pass owing to the negative vote by a permanent member, the US,” the UN said in an announcement on Wednesday.

The draft resolution called for immediate and unhindered humanitarian access to Gaza, the release of all hostages, the return of Palestinian civilians to their homes, and the withdrawal of Israeli forces, according to the announcement.

“The resolution does call for the release of hostages. What it doesn’t do is link the release of hostages to an immediate, unconditional ceasefire,” US State Department Spokesperson Matthew Miller said during a press briefing on Wednesday, emphasizing that the US has previously voted in favor of resolutions that called for “a ceasefire with the release of hostages.”

“We cannot support a resolution that calls for an unconditional, immediate ceasefire and delinks it from the release of hostages,” Miller reiterated.