By — Nick Schifrin Nick Schifrin By — Teresa Cebrián Aranda Teresa Cebrián Aranda Leave your feedback Share Copy URL https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/international-criminal-court-seeks-war-crimes-charges-for-israeli-and-hamas-leaders Email Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Tumblr Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Transcript Audio In an unprecedented announcement, the International Criminal Court said it was seeking warrants to arrest the leaders of Hamas and the elected leadership of Israel on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity. President Biden called it “outrageous” and Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu called it “blood libel.” But prosecutor Karim Khan defended his decision. Nick Schifrin reports. Read the Full Transcript Notice: Transcripts are machine and human generated and lightly edited for accuracy. They may contain errors. Amna Nawaz: In an unprecedented announcement: The International Criminal Court today said it was seeking warrants to arrest not only the leaders of Hamas, but also the elected leadership of Israel, on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity. Geoff Bennett: President Biden called it outrageous, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called it a — quote — "blood libel."But prosecutor Karim Khan defended his decision.Nick Schifrin starts our coverage. Karim Khan, Prosecutor, International Criminal Court: My office charges Netanyahu and Gallant as co-perpetrators. Nick Schifrin: From The Hague today, devastating and divisive allegations by International Criminal Court prosecutor Karim Khan, accusing Israel of — quote — "intentionally directing attacks against a civilian population" and — quote — "starvation of civilians" as a method of warfare and requesting arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant. Karim Khan: These individuals, through a common plan, have systematically deprived the civilian population of Gaza of objects indispensable to human survival. Nick Schifrin: At the same time, the ICC also seeks arrest warrants for Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar and military branch leader Mohammed Deif on the right, both of whom are hiding in Gaza, and political bureau head Ismail Haniyeh, who lives openly in Qatar, for killing more than 1,200 and kidnapping more than 250 on October 7. Karim Khan: There are reasonable grounds to believe that these three Hamas leaders are criminally responsible for the killing of Israeli civilians in attacks perpetrated by Hamas and other armed groups on the 7th of October 2023. Nick Schifrin: Israeli and U.S. officials argued the ICC had no jurisdiction, especially during ongoing domestic Israeli investigations.Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the announcement and Khan himself outrageous. Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli Prime Minister: Through this incendiary decision, Mr. Khan takes his place among the great antisemites in modern times. He now stands alongside those infamous German judges who donned their robes and upheld laws that denied the Jewish people their most basic rights and enabled the Nazis to perpetrate the worst crime in history. Nick Schifrin: The announcement united usually fractious Israeli politicians. More than 100 lawmakers condemned the ICC, as did opposition leader Yair Lapid. Yair Lapid, Former Israeli Prime Minister (through interpreter): It's unforgivable. We have and we are managing a just war. And it needs to be clear that we won't stay silent over it. Nick Schifrin: President Biden also called the announcement outrageous and said: "There is no equivalence, none, between Israel and Hamas."Hamas also condemned — quote — "the attempts by the ICC's public prosecutor to equate the victim with the executioner." A panel of judges will now decide whether to issue the warrants that Khan requested today.For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm Nick Schifrin. Listen to this Segment Watch Watch the Full Episode PBS NewsHour from May 20, 2024 By — Nick Schifrin Nick Schifrin Nick Schifrin is PBS NewsHour’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Correspondent. He leads NewsHour’s daily foreign coverage, including multiple trips to Ukraine since the full-scale invasion, and has created weeklong series for the NewsHour from nearly a dozen countries. The PBS NewsHour series “Inside Putin’s Russia” won a 2017 Peabody Award and the National Press Club’s Edwin M. Hood Award for Diplomatic Correspondence. In 2020 Schifrin received the American Academy of Diplomacy’s Arthur Ross Media Award for Distinguished Reporting and Analysis of Foreign Affairs. He was a member of the NewsHour teams awarded a 2021 Peabody for coverage of COVID-19, and a 2023 duPont Columbia Award for coverage of Afghanistan and Ukraine. Prior to PBS NewsHour, Schifrin was Al Jazeera America's Middle East correspondent. He led the channel’s coverage of the 2014 war in Gaza; reported on the Syrian war from Syria's Turkish, Lebanese and Jordanian borders; and covered the annexation of Crimea. He won an Overseas Press Club award for his Gaza coverage and a National Headliners Award for his Ukraine coverage. From 2008-2012, Schifrin served as the ABC News correspondent in Afghanistan and Pakistan. In 2011 he was one of the first journalists to arrive in Abbottabad, Pakistan, after Osama bin Laden’s death and delivered one of the year’s biggest exclusives: the first video from inside bin Laden’s compound. His reporting helped ABC News win an Edward R. Murrow award for its bin Laden coverage. Schifrin is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and a board member of the Overseas Press Club Foundation. He has a Bachelor’s degree from Columbia University and a Master of International Public Policy degree from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS). @nickschifrin By — Teresa Cebrián Aranda Teresa Cebrián Aranda Teresa is a Producer on the Foreign Affairs & Defense Unit at PBS NewsHour. She writes and produces daily segments for the millions of viewers in the U.S. and beyond who depend on PBS NewsHour for timely, relevant information on the world’s biggest issues. She’s reported on authoritarianism in Latin America, rising violence in Haiti, Egypt’s crackdown on human rights, Israel’s judicial reforms and China’s zero-covid policy, among other topics. Teresa also contributed to the PBS NewsHour’s coverage of the war in Ukraine, which was named recipient of a duPont-Columbia Award in 2023, and was part of a team awarded with a Peabody Award for the NewsHour’s coverage of the Israel-Hamas war.