Turkey Issues Arrest Warrant for Netanyahu

Turkey has issued arrest warrants for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and 36 other members of Israel’s senior political and military leadership on charges of “genocide,” the Istanbul Public Prosecutor’s Office said.

The charges stem from allegations that IDF operations have systematically targeted civilians and infrastructure in Gaza, blocked humanitarian aid, and prevented access for medical assistance.

The investigation was opened following complaints filed with the Istanbul courts in October 2025.

Turkey has strongly criticized Israel’s military campaign in Gaza, which began after the October 7 Hamas massacre.

Since the start of the war, Ankara has gradually suspended all diplomatic and trade relations with Israel.

“As of today, the State of Israel has systematically committed genocide and crimes against humanity in Gaza, resulting in the deaths of thousands of people, including women and children,” the office said on Friday.

“Thousands more have been injured, and many residential areas have become uninhabitable.”

The warrant names Netanyahu, Defense Minister Israel Katz, National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, and IDF Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir, accusing them of being “implicated in crimes against humanity and genocide.”

Hamas commended Turkey’s announcement, stating the “step reaffirms the principled stance of the Turkish people and their leadership, who are dedicated to the values of justice and humanity, and to the solidarity that connects them to our oppressed Palestinian people, who have faced, and continue to endure, the most heinous extermination campaign in modern history at the hands of the war criminals among the leaders of the fascist occupation.”

In response to Turkey’s call for arrests, Yisrael Beytenu MK Avigdor Liberman said President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s arrest warrants against senior Israelis “clarify why Turkey must not be present in the Gaza Strip – indirectly or directly.”

Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar dismissed the arrest warrants as a ploy, recalling that the same prosecutor’s office recently led to the arrest of the mayor of Istanbul solely because he dared to run against Erdogan.

"In Erdogan's Turkey, the judicial system has long since become a tool for suppressing political rivals and arresting journalists, judges, and mayors. Israel contemptuously rejects the latest PR stunt from the school of the tyrant Erdogan."