Judges at the International Criminal Court (ICC) rejected Israel’s request to withdraw arrest warrants issued against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant on Wednesday.
The decision, published on the ICC’s website, also dismissed Israel’s request to suspend the wider investigation into alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in the Palestinian Territories.
Arrest warrants were issued on November 21, 2023, for Netanyahu, Gallant, and Hamas leader Ibrahim al-Masri in connection with the ongoing conflict in Gaza.
The court later canceled the warrant for al-Masri in February after receiving credible reports of his death.
Israel has rejected the jurisdiction of the Hague-based court and denies committing war crimes in Gaza, where it has been conducting military operations since a Hamas-led attack on October 7, 2023. It has argued that an April ruling by the ICC’s appeals chamber, ordering a review of its jurisdictional objections, renders the arrest warrants invalid.
However, ICC judges said that the jurisdictional challenge is still pending and that the arrest warrants will remain in effect until a final decision is made. The court has not set a timeline for its ruling on the matter.
In June, the United States imposed sanctions on four ICC judges in response to the court’s decision to issue a warrant for Netanyahu. Two of the sanctioned judges were part of the panel that rejected Israel’s latest request.
