News - Middle East: Former Israeli minister of military affairs Yoav Gallant intends to travel to Washington, despite an International Criminal Court (ICC) arrest warrant issued against him over war crimes in Gaza.

Israeli Army Radio reported on Monday that Gallant will hold discussions with US security officials on bilateral and regional matters; though no specific date was given for the planned visit.

On Thursday, judges at the ICC issued arrest warrants for Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Gallant.

The judges said there were “reasonable grounds” to believe Netanyahu and Gallant “intentionally and knowingly deprived the civilian population in Gaza of objects indispensable to their survival”.

The court also said the two bore “criminal responsibility” for war crimes and crimes against humanity during the bloody onslaught on Gaza.

According to ICC regulations, the Hague-based court does not conduct trials in absentia, and the defendants must be physically present in order for the case to begin.

As the tribunal has no police to enforce its warrants, it depends on its member states to implement its orders.

The White House has rejected the ICC warrants for both Netanyahu and Gallant.

Backed by the United States and its Western allies, Israel launched the war on Gaza on October 7, 2023, after the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas waged the surprise Operation Al-Aqsa Flood against the Israeli regime in response to the occupying entity’s decades-long campaign of bloodletting and devastation against Palestinians.

The regime’s bloody onslaught on Gaza has so far killed over 44,200 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and injured at least 104,600 others. Thousands more are also missing and presumed dead under rubble.

Source: Press TV