War crimes court drops proceedings against ex-Hamas boss Ismail Haniyeh

The International Criminal Court (ICC) announced on Friday that it had dropped the case against late Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh following his death in July.

The ICC is currently considering a request to issue arrest warrants against Israeli and Hamas leaders, made earlier this year.

In May, International Criminal Court chief prosecutor Karim Khan sought arrest warrants for Hamas leaders, saying there were reasonable suspicions that Yahya Sinwar, military chief Mohammed Al-Masri and Haniyeh bore criminal responsibility for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity.

In the same statement, the prosecutor announced that he is also seeking arrest warrants for the arrest of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his Defense Minister Yoav Gallant. There is no information available about further developments regarding these inquiries.

Haniyeh was assassinated in Iran on July 31. Israel has also said it killed al-Masri, also known as Mohammed Deif, in another airstrike, although Hamas would neither confirm nor deny this.

The judges said their decision to halt the proceedings followed the prosecution’s withdrawal of a request for an arrest warrant against Haniyeh earlier this month.