Turkiye seeks PM Netanyahu arrest on Gaza genocide charge
Shafaq News – Ankara
Turkiye issued arrest warrants for 37 senior Israeli officials — including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu — accusing them of committing genocide during the war in Gaza.
The warrants, announced Friday by the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office, also targeted Defense Minister Israel Katz, military Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir, and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir.
Prosecutors claim the move stems from what they describe as systematic Israeli attacks on civilians in Gaza, where more than 68,500 Palestinians — most of them women and children — have been killed since October 7, 2023.
Avigdor Lieberman, head of the Yisrael Beiteinu party, denounced the decision, saying the orders issued by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government “show why Turkiye must not be present in Gaza, directly or indirectly.”
Earlier, Netanyahu reaffirmed his opposition to any Turkish participation in the proposed international force planned for Gaza, telling senior reserve officers, “There will be no Turkish forces in Gaza.”
The move from Ankara comes amid growing international legal scrutiny of Israel’s conduct in the war. In May 2024, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Galant, alleging war crimes and crimes against humanity. The ICC prosecutor accused Israeli leaders of using starvation as a weapon of war and committing other inhumane acts between October 2023 and May 2024.
