Warrants put Israeli PM and others in a small group of leaders accused of crimes against humanity

The decision by the International Criminal Court to issue arrest warrants for the Israeli prime minister and a top Hamas official puts them in a small group of leaders to be accused of crimes against humanity.

The court issued warrants Thursday for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, his former defense minister, Yoav Gallant, and Mohammed Deif, a Hamas leader Israel claims it killed.

A three-judge panel from the court said the warrants were based on “reasonable grounds” that Netanyahu and Gallant bear responsibility for a war crime and crimes against humanity in the Gaza Strip, where more than 44,000 people have reportedly been killed and more than 104,000 wounded in the 13-month war between Israel and Hamas.

Netanyahu condemned the warrant, saying Israel “rejects with disgust the absurd and false actions.”

The warrant against Deif said there was reason to believe he was involved in murder, rape, torture and the taking of hostages amounting to war crimes and crimes against humanity for the militant group's Oct. 7, 2023, attacks on Israel. Some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, were killed in those attacks, and another 250 were abducted.

Hamas said it welcomed the warrants against Netanyahu and Gallant after what it called decades of injustice by a “fascist occupation.”

The Hamas statement did not refer to the warrant for Deif. Israel claims it killed him in an airstrike, but Hamas has never confirmed his death.

Here's a closer look at the ICC and its accusations against Israeli and Hamas leaders:

The ICC is the permanent court of last resort, established in 2002 to prosecute individuals for war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide and aggression.

The court's 124 member states have signed on to the treaty that created the court. Dozens of countries did not sign and do not accept the court’s jurisdiction. They include Israel, the United States, Russia and China.

The ICC becomes involved when nations are unable or unwilling to prosecute crimes on their territory. Israel argues that it has a functioning court system, and disputes over a nation’s ability or willingness to prosecute have fueled past disputes between the court and individual countries.

While the warrants could complicate travel abroad for Netanyahu and Gallant, they are unlikely to face judges in The Hague anytime soon. Member countries are required to detain suspects facing a warrant if they set foot on their soil, but the court has no way to enforce that.

ICC judges have issued about 60 arrest warrants, and 21 people have been detained and appeared in court, according to its website. Some 30 people remain at large. The court has issued 11 convictions and four acquittals.

The court said there are reasonable grounds to believe Netanyahu and Gallant, who was replaced earlier this month, bear responsibility as co-perpetrators of the war crime of starvation and crimes against humanity, including murder, persecution and other inhumane acts.

The court said that while it couldn't reach a finding on the crime against humanity of extermination, it said the murder accusation was supported by allegations that Gaza residents were deprived of basic necessities such as food, water, electricity and medical supplies. That created conditions “calculated to bring about the destruction of part of the civilian population in Gaza," that led to deaths of children and others from malnutrition and dehydration.

The court also found that by preventing hospital supplies and medicine from getting into Gaza, doctors were forced to operate and carry out amputations without anesthesia or unsafe means of sedation that led to “great suffering.”

The court said it found two incidents in which evidence provided by the prosecution allowed it to make a finding that attacks were intentionally directed against civilians. It said there were reasonable grounds to believe that Netanyahu and Gallant failed to prevent those attacks.

While the arrest warrants are classified as secret to protect witnesses, the court said it provided some information because the conduct that inspired the warrants appeared to be ongoing. It also said it wanted victims and their families to be notified of the warrants.

Deif, who had been highest-ranking commander of Hamas' military wing, was alleged to have ordered the Oct. 7 attack and failed to prevent it.

The court said the mass slaughter of people at several Israeli settlements and an outdoor concert amounted to a crime against humanity and the war crime of murder. It also found that those attacks qualified as the war crime of intentionally directing attacks against civilians.

In addition, the judges found that allegations of sexual assault of captives and hostages — mostly women — provided reasonable grounds for crimes against humanity and the war crimes of both torture and rape.

Last year, the court issued a warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin on charges that he was responsible for the abductions of children from Ukraine. Russia responded by issuing its own arrest warrants for Khan and ICC judges.

The chances of Putin facing trial at the ICC are highly unlikely because Moscow does not recognize the court’s jurisdiction or extradite its nationals.

Former Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi was captured and killed by rebels shortly after the ICC issued a warrant for his arrest on charges linked to the brutal suppression of anti-government protests in 2011.

One of Africa’s most notorious warlords, Joseph Kony, was issued an arrest warrant from the ICC in 2005. As the leader of the Lord’s Resistance Army in northern Uganda, he faces 12 counts of crimes against humanity including murder, sexual enslavement and rape, and 21 counts of war crimes. Despite an internationally backed manhunt and a $5 million reward, Kony remains at large.

Sudan’s former President Omar al-Bashir is wanted by the ICC over accusations related to the conflict in Darfur. Al-Bashir was served with arrest warrants in 2009.

FILE - Karim Khan, Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court looks up prior to a press conference in The Hague, Netherlands, Monday, July 3, 2023. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong, File)

FILE - Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addresses the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly, Friday, Sept. 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Richard Drew, File)

FILE - Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu enters the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly, Friday, Sept. 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Pamela Smith, File)

FILE - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, left, and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant attend a press conference in the Kirya military base in Tel Aviv, Israel, Saturday, Oct. 28, 2023. (Abir Sultan/Pool Photo via AP, File)

VIENNA (AP) — The U.N. nuclear watchdog’s board on Thursday condemned Iran for failing to cooperate fully with the agency, the second time it has done so in just five months.

The International Atomic Energy Agency also called on Tehran to provide answers in a long-running investigation into uranium particles found at two locations that Tehran has failed to declare as nuclear sites.

Nineteen members of the IAEA board voted for the resolution, while Russia, China and Burkina Faso opposed it, and 12 abstained and one did not vote, according to diplomats who spoke on condition of anonymity to describe the outcome of the closed-doors vote.

The resolution was put forward by France, Germany and Britain, supported by the United States. It comes at a critical time, ahead of Donald Trump’s return to the White House.

Trump’s first term in office was marked by a particularly tense period with Iran, when the U.S. president pursued a policy of “maximum pressure” against Tehran. In 2018, Trump unilaterally withdrew America from Iran’s nuclear deal with world powers, and imposed even harsher sanctions that have since hobbled Iran's economy further.

The resolution comes on the heels of a confidential report earlier this week in which the IAEA said Iran has defied international demands to rein in its nuclear program and has increased its stockpile of uranium enriched to near weapons-grade levels.

That report, seen by the AP on Tuesday, said that as of Oct. 26, Iran has accumulated 182.3 kilograms (401.9 pounds) of uranium enriched up to 60%, an increase of 17.6 kilograms (38.8 pounds) since the last IAEA report in August. Uranium enriched at 60% purity is just a short, technical step away from weapons-grade levels of 90%.

The resolution approved on Thursday requires the IAEA to now produce a “comprehensive and updated assessment” of Iran’s nuclear activities, which could eventually trigger a referral to the U.N. Security Council to consider more sanctions on Tehran.

In the past, the IAEA has named two locations near Tehran — Varamin and Turquzabad — where there have been traces of processed uranium, according to IAEA inspectors. Thursday’s resolution honed in on those locations, asking Tehran to provide “technically credible explanations” for the presence of the uranium particles at the sites."

The IAEA has urged Iran to also provide answers about the origin and current location of that nuclear material in order for it “to be in a position to provide assurance that Iran’s nuclear program is exclusively peaceful.”

Western officials suspect that the uranium traces discovered by the IAEA could provide evidence that Iran had a secret nuclear weapons program until at least 2003. Tehran insists its program is peaceful.

One of the sites became known publicly in 2018 after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu revealed it at the United Nations and called it a clandestine nuclear warehouse hidden at a rug-cleaning plant.

Iran denied that, though IAEA inspectors later found the man-made uranium particles there.

While the number of sites about which the IAEA has questions has been reduced from four to two since 2019, lingering questions have been a persistent source of tensions.

On the subject of Varamin, the IAEA said that inspectors believe Iran used the site from 1999 until 2003 as a pilot project to process uranium ore and convert it into a gas form, which then can be enriched through spinning in a centrifuge. The IAEA said buildings at the site had been demolished in 2004.

Turquzabad, the second location, is where the IAEA believes Iran brought some of the material from Varamin amid the demolition, though it said that alone cannot “explain the presence of the multiple types of isotopically altered particles” found there.

Thursday’s resolution before the 35-member board at the IAEA headquarters in Vienna, called on Tehran to explain the presence of the uranium particles at Varamin and Turquzabad, inform the U.N. nuclear watchdog about the current whereabouts of that nuclear material, and grant access to IAEA inspectors to all Iranian nuclear locations.

A draft of the resolution was seen by the AP.

Tehran continues to maintain that its nuclear program is solely for peaceful purposes and has told the IAEA that it has declared all of the nuclear material, activities and locations required under a so-called Safeguard Agreement it has with the IAEA.

There was no immediate comment from Tehran although Iranian officials have vowed to retaliate immediately if a resolution is passed. In the past, Tehran has responded to IAEA resolutions by stepping up its nuclear activities.

The resolution also requires IAEA director general Rafael Grossi to provide an updated assessment of Iran’s nuclear program — including the possible presence of undeclared nuclear material at the two locations — by spring 2025 at the latest.

The assessment could be a basis for possible further steps by European nations, diplomats said, leading to potential escalation in tensions between Iran and the West. It could also provide a basis for European countries to trigger sanctions against Iran ahead of October 2025, when the original 2015 Iran nuclear deal expires, the diplomats said.

FILE - The flag of the International Atomic Energy Agency flies in front of its headquarters during an IAEA Board of Governors meeting in Vienna, Austria, on Feb. 6, 2023. (AP Photo/Heinz-Peter Bader, File)