Türkiye’s foreign minister hails ICC arrest warrant for Israeli premier, ex-defense chief

The Turkish foreign minister on Thursday hailed the UN's Hague court issuing arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and a former defense minister, calling it a good step towards "the realization of justice."

"The arrest warrants issued by the International Criminal Court for Netanyahu and (Yoav) Gallant are promising in terms of the realization of justice," Hakan Fidan said on X.

The decision is a "vital step" in bringing Israeli officials who have committed genocide of the Palestinians to justice, said Fidan.

Fidan added that Türkiye will continue to work towards implementation of international law in all its institutions and rules to punish genocide.

"This is not only a duty towards the Palestinians who have been killed, but also towards all oppressed nations and future generations," he said.

On Thursday, the ICC issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Gaza Strip.

The warrants come as Israel's genocidal offensive in Gaza recently entered its second year, having already killed some 44,000 Palestinians, most of them women and children, and injured over 103,000 others.

The Israeli onslaught has displaced almost the entire population of the territory amid an ongoing and deliberate blockade that has led to severe shortages of food, clean water, and medicine, pushing the population to the brink of starvation.