Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said that Israeli leaders death sentences should be issued, not arrest warrants, Reuters reported.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei commented on last week's decision by the International Criminal Court (ICC) to issue arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Galant and the leader of the Palestinian group “Hamas” Ibrahim al-Masri.
„They issued an arrest warrant, but that is not enough... A death sentence must be issued for these criminal leaders,” Khamenei said, referring to Israeli leaders.
In their ruling, the International Criminal Court judges said there were reasonable grounds to believe that Netanyahu and Galant were responsible for acts that included killings, persecution and starvation as part of a “widespread and systematic attack on the civilian population of Gaza“.
The decision was met with outrage in Israel, which called it shameful and absurd. Gazans expressed hope that it would help end the violence and bring those responsible for war crimes to justice.
Israel rejects ICC jurisdiction and denies allegations of war crimes in Gaza.
In the arrest warrant for the leader of “Hamas” Ibrahim al-Masri faces charges of mass murder during the October 7, 2023 attacks on Israel that sparked the Gaza war, as well as allegations of rape and hostage-taking.
Israel claims it killed Masri in an airstrike in July, but “Hamas” neither confirmed nor denied this.