The International Criminal Court has issued an arrest warrant for Mohammed Diab Ibrahim Al-Masri, aka ‘Deif’, for alleged crimes against humanity and war crimes committed on the soil of Israel and Palestine from at least 7 October 2023.
The prosecution had initially filed applications for warrants of arrest for two other senior leaders of Hamas, namely Haniyeh and Yahya Sinwar.
Following confirmation of their deaths, the court granted the withdrawal of the applications on August 9, 2024 and October 25 2024, respectively.
Concerning Deif, the prosecution indicated that it would continue to gather information with respect to his reported death. On November 15 2024, the prosecution, referring to information from both the Israeli and Palestinian authorities, notified the ICC that it is not in a position to determine whether Mr Deif has been killed or remains alive.
Therefore, the court issues the present warrant of arrest. The prosecution also noted that it continues to investigate the crimes in the ongoing conflict and envisions that further applications for arrest warrants will be submitted.
The arrest warrant for Deif is classified as ‘secret’ to protect witnesses and safeguard the conduct of investigations. However, the ICC decided to release the information below since conduct similar to that addressed in the warrant of arrest appears to be ongoing, in particular, the holding of several hostages captive. The court considers it is also in the interest of victims and their families to be aware of the warrant’s existence.
The ICC found reasonable grounds to believe that Deif, born in 1965, the highest commander of the military wing of Hamas (known as the al-Qassam Brigades) at the time of the alleged conduct, is responsible for the crimes against humanity of murder, extermination; torture; and rape and other forms of sexual violence; as well as the war crimes of murder, cruel treatment, torture, taking hostages; outrages upon personal dignity; and rape and other forms of sexual violence.
The ICC found reasonable grounds to believe that Deif bears criminal responsibility for the aforementioned crimes for (having committed the acts jointly and through others and (having ordered or induced the commission of the crimes, and for his failure to exercise proper control over forces under his effective command and control.
The court found reasonable grounds to believe that during the relevant time, international humanitarian law related to international armed conflict (between Israel and Palestine) and non-international armed conflict (between Israel and Hamas) applied.
The ICC also found that there are reasonable grounds to believe that the crimes against humanity were part of a widespread and systematic attack directed by Hamas and other armed groups against the civilian population of Israel.
