UN Official: ICC Must Issue Arrest Warrant for Genocide Mastermind in Gaza

UN's Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the occupied Palestinian Territories, Francesca Albanese, said that she does not understand why the ICC prosecutor has not yet requested an arrest warrant for Smotrich.

Albanese said Smotrich was “a key mastermind of Israel’s genocidal policies against the Palestinians”.

The UN official's remark came in response to the Israeli cabinet’s approval of Smotrich’s plan to approve five settlement outposts in the occupied West Bank.

The Israeli regime has been accused of genocide by the International Court of Justice (ICJ). The ICJ in January ordered Israel to refrain from any acts that could fall under the 1949 Genocide Convention and to ensure its troops commit no genocidal acts against Palestinians. The ICJ has ordered the Tel Aviv regime to immediately stop its genocidal war on Gaza.

Across Palestine, tensions have risen since Israel launched its genocidal war on the Gaza Strip in October 2023 which has killed some 37,900 Palestinian people.