11 NGOs urge France to enforce ICC warrants for Netanyahu, Gallant

Eleven nongovernmental organizations urged France to enforce an International Criminal Court's (ICC) arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former defense chief Yoav Gallant.

The NGOs, including the Ligue de Droit de l'homme (LDH) and the French Palestinian Solidarity Association (AFPS), issued a statement Thursday that appealed to France to act on the warrants.

The statement emphasized the need for France to ensure the arrest of the officials should they enter French territory.

It also pressed France to continue supporting the ICC despite external pressures, asserting: "The issuance of these warrants further underscores the need to impose sanctions on Israeli authorities."

Former French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin, speaking on French LCI television, addressed the warrants.

Asked if France should enforce the decision if Netanyahu enters French or European territory, de Villepin replied: "France has already responded to this question through former Foreign Minister Stephane Sejourne, stating, 'Of course, France will implement the ICC's decision.'"

The ICC announced Thursday that it issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant, citing "war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Gaza."

French Foreign Ministry spokesperson Christophe Lemoine, during a weekly news conference, avoided directly answering whether France would enforce the warrants, calling it "a legally complex question."

A subsequent statement from the ministry referred to the warrants as "not a trial but the formalization of accusations."

Israel's offensive in Gaza, launched after an Oct. 7, 2023 attack by the Palestinian resistance group, Hamas, has continued and has killed more than 44,000 Palestinians, most of them women and children.

The offensive has displaced nearly the entire population of Gaza, and an ongoing blockade has led to severe shortages of food, clean water and medicine, pushing the population to the brink of starvation.