ICC cancels warrant for Mohammad Deif, on account of being dead

The International Criminal Court has officially cancelled the warrant for the arrest of arch-terrorist Mohammad Deif, half a year after his elimination by the IDF, on account of his being dead, according to Channel 12 News.

ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan announced in May that he was filing applications for warrants of arrest against Hamas leaders Yahya Sinwar, Mohammad Deif, and Ismail Haniyeh and against Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for alleged war crimes related to October 7 and its aftermath.

According to his statement, Khan holds the leaders of Hamas responsible for the atrocities committed during October 7 and their treatment of the hostages taken.

Meanwhile, Netanyahu and Gallant are accused of engaging in deliberate starvation as a weapon of war in the war against Hamas, as well as allegedly deliberately targeting civilians.

Months later, the International Criminal Court agreed to accept the petition and issue the warrants in question. Now that Sinwar and Deif have been confirmed dead, only Netanyahu and Gallant are the target of active ICC arrest warrants.

Israel has unequivocally and consistently rejected the ICC's authority to issue the warrants, as Palestine is not a state and more importantly - Israel is not and has never been a signatory to the Rome statute which grants the ICC its legal power.

After Senate Democrats blocked an effort to sanction the ICC for issuing arrest warrants against leaders of America's Israeli ally due to disagreements about their extent, President Donald Trump signed an executive order imposing sanctions on the ICC and specific individuals within it, including Karim Khan.

Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar has repeatedly attacked the legitimacy of the ICC's decision in meetings with European leaders, and a number of countries - including Germany and France - have promised to not arrest Netanyahu on the basis of the warrants should he visit their countries.