STORY: :: The UK's Prime Minister says the ICC prosecutor seeking arrest warrants for Israeli and Hamas leaders is 'unhelpful'
:: May 21, 2024
:: Vienna, Austria
Rishi Sunak, UK Prime Minister
"Well, this is a deeply unhelpful development. Of course, it's still subject to a final decision, but it remains deeply unhelpful nonetheless. There is no moral equivalence between a democratic state exercising its lawful right to self-defence and the terrorist group Hamas. And it's wrong to conflate and, as I said, equivocate between those two different entities. And what I'm very clear (on) is that this will make absolutely no difference in getting a pause in the fighting, getting aid into the region, or indeed the hostages out."
The ICC's prosecutor said on Monday (May 20) he had requested arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, his defense chief and three Hamas leaders over alleged war crimes.
ICC prosecutor Karim Khan said in a statement issued after more than seven months of war in Gaza that he had reasonable grounds to believe the five men "bear criminal responsibility" for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity.
A panel of pre-trial judges will determine whether the evidence supports the arrest warrants. But the court has no means to enforce such warrants, and its investigation into the Gaza war has been opposed by the United States and Israel.
Israel and Palestinian leaders have dismissed allegations of war crimes, and representatives for both sides criticized Khan's decision.
