Turkey issues genocide arrest warrant against Netanyahu
ISTANBUL: Turkey announced Friday that it had issued arrest warrants for genocide against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and senior officials in his government over the war in Gaza.
The announcement was met with a firm rebuttal from Israel. Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said Israel “firmly rejects, with contempt” the charges, calling them “the latest PR stunt by the tyrant (Turkish President Recep Tayyip) Erdogan”.
The Istanbul prosecutor’s office said in a statement that a total of 37 suspects were targeted by the arrest warrants, without providing a full list.
They include Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz, National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir and army chief Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir.
Turkey has accused the officials of “genocide and crimes against humanity” that Israel has “perpetrated systematically” in Gaza.
The statement also refers to the “Turkish-Palestinian Friendship Hospital”, built by Turkey in the Gaza Strip and bombed by Israel in March.
A fragile ceasefire has been in force in the devastated Palestinian territory since October 10 as part of US President Donald Trump’s regional peace plan.
The Islamist group Hamas welcomed Turkey’s announcement, calling it a “commendable measure (confirming) the sincere positions of the Turkish people and their leaders, who are committed to the values of justice, humanity and fraternity that bind them to our oppressed Palestinian people”.
Meanwhile, One Palestinian was killed in Gaza by Israeli firing and another wounded on Saturday, local medics said, as a fragile ceasefire holds between Hamas and Israel.
Gazan medical officials said the person who died was killed by Israeli firing east of Bureij refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip. Civil defence rescuers said one Palestinian was shot and wounded by Israeli gunfire in the western Khan Younis area in the southern part of the Strip.
The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The U.S.-brokered Gaza truce, which left thorny issues like the disarmament of Palestinian militant group Hamas and a timeline for Israeli withdrawal from Gaza unresolved, has been tested by periodic violence since coming into force on October 10. AFP
