The International Criminal Court (ICC) canceled the arrest warrant against Hamas leader Mohammed Diab Ibrahim al-Masri, also known as Mohammed Deif, on Wednesday after confirming that he had been killed last July, having obtained “sufficient and reliable information” from the prosecution.
The ICC issued arrest warrants for Deif, along with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former defense minister Yoav Gallant in November 2024.
An arrest warrant was issued for Deif, even though Israel confirmed he had been killed in an Israeli airstrike back in Auguat, and Hamas had informed Arabic newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat that Deif was killed in early November. This seemed to suggest that the arrest warrant for Deif was issued in an attempt to preserve some level of even-handedness between the sides of the conflict.
The court stated in November that it was not in a position to determine whether Deif had been killed or remained alive and, therefore, issued a warrant of arrest.
Now that the ICC has canceled Deif's arrest warrant, only the warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant remain.
The court declared that there were reasonable grounds to believe Deif, as commander of the al-Qassam Brigades, was responsible for both crimes against humanity and war crimes, which were “part of a widespread and systematic attack directed by Hamas and other armed groups against the civilian population of Israel.” The crimes committed by Deif included murder, extermination, cruel treatment, taking hostages, torture, rape, and other forms of sexual violence.
Why the decision?
In its decision to cancel the warrant for Deif, the ICC cited Article 58 (4) of the Statute of the ICC as stating that “jurisdiction cannot be exercised over a deceased person. Therefore, proceedings against a person who is deceased must be terminated.”
The prosecution had also initially filed applications for warrants of arrest for Ismail Haniyeh and Yahya Sinwar. Following confirmation of their deaths, the chamber granted the withdrawal of the applications in August and October, respectively.
Regarding the warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant, the ICC stated that there were reasonable grounds to believe that they had committed war crimes and crimes against humanity, however, Israel criticized the legitimacy of each of these allegations.
While Israel and the US condemned the ICC's actions, the UK and some EU countries expressed that they would support the court's decision.