Benjamin Netanyahu must go for there to be any hope of peace in the Middle East

Even for a self-styled tough guy such as Benjamin Netanyahu, to find himself, potentially, the subject of an international arrest warrant for war crimes must be galling. To find himself and his defence minister, Yoav Gallant, bracketed with the leaders of Hamas, Yahya Sinwar and Mohammed Deif, is presumably something that he could not have easily envisaged at the outset of the merciless war in Gaza.

The Israeli prime minister and his supporters will no doubt be enraged by the actions of the International Criminal Court (ICC), just as they were when South Africa’s claim against the Israeli government was found plausible enough to be considered by the UN-sponsored International Court of Justice. Soon, if there are proceedings, Mr Netanyhu’s name will follow those of Vladimir Putin, Slobodan Milosevic and Pol Pot into the annals of such international tribunals.

For the Israelis, the framing of a false legal and moral equivalence between the actions of democratic Israel and the terrorists of Hamas is deeply offensive. As they always argue, the atrocities committed by Hamas against civilians on 7 October were acts of terror and demanded a response; Israel has a right to defend itself.

However, as has been clear for some time, and leaving aside culpability for the conflict itself, either proximate or stretching back decades, the conduct of the war by the Israeli government has inevitably led to this denouement. The denial of optimal access for humanitarian aid, the medieval siege strategy, the constant resettlement of homeless people, the loss of more than 35,000 lives, total casualties of 100,000, the total destruction of towns and cities, orphaned children, treatment of POWs, malnutrition and imminent famine are all, mostly, uncontested features of this war.

They comprise the formidable evidence that the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), and the cabinet that has directed it, have not adhered to international law and the rules of war. Quite simply, civilians, and especially children, have not been properly protected. The extent and nature of that negligence, or worse, is now being tested in two international courts. Neither the State of Israel, Mr Netanyahu nor his colleagues have yet been found “guilty” of genocide or war crimes. Indeed, the ICC prosecutor has yet to convince his colleagues to issue an arrest warrant for the arrest of the Israeli ministers. Yet the very fact that such claims are being discussed with plausibility, as it’s put, is itself a terrible indictment of the way this war has been fought.

Mr Netanyahu defends himself on the grounds that Hamas launched an invasion, and that civilian casualties are inevitable in war, and all the more so in Gaza, where Hamas use people as human shields, take hostages, and hide in deep tunnels in densely populated territory. Yet Israel’s actions seem disproportionate even taking into account those factors. It is that balance that the lawyers are examining; but many of Israel’s closest friends and allies have already decided, on the very obvious facts of the matter, that this war has indeed inflicted unjustifiable suffering on innocent people.

Perhaps the more telling failure from the point of view of Mr Netanyahu himself is that this colossal military effort, which has demolished more than half the buildings in Gaza and bombed its infrastructure back to the Stone Age, has not led to the claimed elimination of Hamas, nor its surrender. The terrorists, albeit at reduced scale, are still operating out of parts of northern Gaza declared “clear” by the IDF. Many of the hostages are still unaccounted for, much to the disgust of the Israeli people. And, as the ICC warrant reminds us, the leaders of Hamas have not been captured by the Israeli authorities, and remain at large.

If Mr Netanyhu continues with his assault on Rafah, he will merely make things worse for himself and his nation – legally, diplomatically and militarily. In a way it is a victory for Hamas to have Mr Netanyahu the subject of such serious legal proceedings, isolated from the international community, and as close to war with Iran as he has ever been. Yet the Israeli leader has made his own grievous decisions and will have to account for them.

At a time when Israel’s greatest enemy Iran may soon become even more unstable after the death of its president, Israel needs a premier who can provide the country with the security it needs to counter the existential threat posed by Tehran. Remote as it seems today, Israel needs someone who can make peace with the Palestinians and rebuild alliances with regional neighbours and powerful international partners. The aim is to neutralise the threats, rather than exacerbate them.

Somehow, Hamas has induced Mr Netanyahu into squandering Israel’s nascent regional alliances and the global goodwill it enjoyed after 7 October. Mr Netanyhu has been turning his country into a pariah, with even the US growing increasingly exasperated. Hamas could hardly have wished for more. Benny Gantz, a member of Mr Netanyahu’s three-man war cabinet, has threatened to resign from the government if it does not adopt a new plan for the war in Gaza. The best service Mr Gantz can provide for his country is to force the issue and, ideally, bring to an end Mr Netanyahu’s disastrous tenure in office.