For more than a year, the world has watched in horror as Israel rains destruction upon the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip — obliterating homes, schools, and hospitals, killing many tens of thousands, and maiming many more. At the very least, as we are confronted with this ongoing genocidal onslaught, the belated decision of the International Criminal Court (ICC) to issue arrest warrants for the Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, and the former Minister of Defence, Yoav Gallant, offers a glimmer of hope for justice.

Netanyahu is now a wanted man. Both he and Gallant face the prospect of incarceration, for crimes against humanity and war crimes, should they ever enter any of the 124 states that are parties to the Rome Statute. Decades of impunity may finally be ending. Israel is currently standing trial for genocide at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), and the World Court has already ruled that it is guilty of the crime against humanity of apartheid. There is now a realistic prospect that its leaders will face accountability for their crimes.

Publicly announcing its unprecedented decision, the Pre-Trial Chamber of the ICC stated that there are reasonable grounds to believe that both men bear criminal responsibility for the war crime of starvation as a method of warfare, the crimes against humanity of murder, persecution, and other inhumane acts, and the war crime of intentionally directing an attack against the civilian population. Like all of us, the court has seen the evidence: hospital patients burnt alive, children decapitated, desperate families repeatedly displaced with nowhere safe to go, and doctors forced to perform operations — including the amputation of limbs — without access to anaesthetic. Having heard Gallant degrade Palestinians as ‘human animals’ and Netanyahu invoke the biblical tribe of Amalek to call for their elimination, there can be little doubt that both men are guilty on every count.

This announcement is a vindication of the millions who have marched and taken action to call for international law to be upheld. It is no less a damning indictment on those who have excused and continue to facilitate Israel’s atrocities in Gaza. The ICC charges Israel’s leaders with having ‘intentionally and knowingly deprived the civilian population in Gaza of objects indispensable to their survival, including food, water, and medicine and medical supplies, as well as fuel and electricity.’ It is sickening to recall how Keir Starmer explicitly argued that Israel has a ‘right’ to carry out such despicable crimes.

These ICC arrest warrants must mark a turning point. They lay down a clear challenge for those governments, including Britian, that have previously stated their support for the independence of the international courts. This decision places Britain in the grotesque position of continuing to sell weapons and provide diplomatic support to a regime that is not only on trial for genocide but is led by a fugitive from international justice.

It is long past time for the British government to act. This week, we learnt that Britain chose to keep arming Israel with components for the deadly F-35 fighter jet, and abandon its international legal obligations, purely to avoid the risk of angering the USA. It cannot be allowed to do the same in relation to the ICC. Initial responses from both Keir Starmer and Yvette Cooper have been woefully inadequate, dismissing the simple question of whether they will be bound to uphold international and domestic law as ‘hypotheticals.’ The government must publicly declare its commitment to implement these warrants and make clear to Netanyahu and Gallant in no uncertain terms that they will be arrested if they ever set foot in Britain. It must also fundamentally change its relationship with Israel, starting with an immediate end to all arms trade and meaningful sanctions designed to bring a halt to Israel’s crimes against the Palestinian people.

The issuance of arrest warrants for Gallant and Netanyahu further demonstrates how Israel and its allies are being isolated on the international stage. It must only be the start. All those responsible for Israel’s crimes against humanity and war crimes must be held to account. But today, the Palestinian people need our solidarity as urgently as ever. Take hope from this announcement that someday justice will be done. Take action now and do not stop until Palestine is free.