Turkey has amplified the global efforts to hold the Israeli government accountable for violence relating to the conflict in Gaza Strip with an arrest warrant targeting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and several other members of his Cabinet.
The Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office announced on November 7 the issuance of the warrant for 37 Israeli government officials, including Netanyahu, on charges of “genocide” and “crimes against humanity” committed in Gaza and against the Global Sumud Flotilla.
The Flotilla was a landmark civil society-led maritime initiative for the Palestinian people that was intercepted by Israeli naval forces early this year.
Apart from Netanyahu, the warrant also regarded Israel’s Defence Minister Israel Katz, National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir and Chief of General Staff Eyal Zamir, among others, “criminally responsible” for aforementioned offences.
The Prosecutor’s Office stipulated in its Friday announcement that the actions carried out by the named Israeli state officials resulted in deaths of thousands of civilians in Gaza, including women and children, with thousands others wounded, while residential areas were rendered uninhabitable.
According to the enclave’s Ministry of Health, the death toll in the embattled territory has risen to more than 69,000.
The latest attack from Israel was reported November 8, in which at least three Palestinians were killed.
The attack was carried out despite a United States-brockered ceasefire that has been in effect since early October, reports said.
Israel FM slams Turkish warrant as ‘PR stunt’
Israel was quick to reject the warrant of arrest from Turkey, with Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar denouncing the move as a “PR stunt,” orchestrated by “tyrant” President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
“In Erdogan’s Turkey, the judiciary has long since become a tool for silencing political rivals and detaining journalists, judges and mayors,” Sa’ar wrote on X on November 7, in justification of his assertion against the Turkish head of state.
He also mentioned that the office which handed down the arrest warrant for Israeli officials was the same one responsible for the arrest “of the Mayor of Istanbul merely for daring to run against Erdogan.”
He was referring to Ekrem Imamoglu, a key rival of Erdogan, who was taken into custody in March, as part of an investigation for corruption and terrorism.
“Israel firmly rejects, with contempt, the latest PR stunt by the tyrant Erdogan,” the Israeli foreign minister stated in his post.
READ ALSO: https://newsjustnews.com/turkey-renews-its-diplomatic-commitments-as-mediator-in-regional-conflicts/
Hamas welcomes Turkey’s move
Meanwhile, Palestinian militant group Hamas, the other side in the persisting conflict in Gaza, has welcomed Turkey’s move against Netanyahu and 36 other Israeli officials.
In a statement released November 7, Hamas regarded the issuance of the warrant as a “commendable step” that “reflects the genuine positions of the Turkish people and leadership in standing firmly by justice, humanity and the bonds of brotherhood that unite them with our oppressed Palestinian people, who have faced and continue to face one of the most brutal genocidal wars in modern history at the hands of the fascist occupation leaders.”
The group then called on the international community and global judicial bodies to “issue legal warrants to pursue the leaders of the Zionist (Israeli) occupation wherever they are, and to bring them before courts to hold them accountable for their crimes against humanity.”
The Turkish warrant of arrest against the 37 Israeli officials came nearly a year after the International Criminal Court (ICC) filed a similar order for Netanyahu, accusing the Israeli Prime Minister of war crimes, which he promptly dismissed as “absurd and antisemitic.”
READ NEXT: https://newsjustnews.com/nations-vow-support-for-gazas-reconstruction-following-ceasefire-deal/
Adam Peaker 
Hyacinth Estrada 
Ian Trinidad