Israeli officials increasingly believe the International Criminal Court is preparing to issue arrest warrants for senior government officials on charges related to the conflict with Hamas, according to five Israeli and foreign officials.
Israeli and foreign officials also believe the court is reviewing arrest warrants issued against Hamas leaders.
If the court proceeds, Israeli officials could potentially be accused of preventing the delivery of humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip and leading an excessively harsh response to Hamas’ attacks on Israel on October 7, according to two of the five officials, all of whom spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly.
Israeli officials, concerned about the potential consequences of such a case, have said they believe Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is among those who could be named in an arrest warrant. It is not clear who could be charged with Hamas or what crimes would be cited.
Israeli officials have not disclosed the nature of the information that led them to worry about possible ICC action, and the court has made no comment on the matter.
The court’s arrest warrants would likely be seen in much of the world as a humiliating moral indictment, particularly against Israel, which has faced international backlash for months over its conduct in Gaza, in particular of President Bidenwho called it “exaggerated.”
It could also affect Israel’s policies as the country continues its military campaign against Hamas. One of the Israeli officials said the possibility of the court issuing arrest warrants had informed Israeli decision-making in recent weeks.
Israeli and foreign officials said they did not know what stage the process was at. Any warrant would require approval from a panel of judges and would not necessarily result in a trial or even the immediate arrest of the targets.
Karim Khan, the court’s chief prosecutor, previously confirmed his team was investigating incidents during the war, but his office declined to comment for this article, saying it was not “responding to media speculation.”
Mr. Netanyahu’s office also declined to comment, but on Friday the the prime minister said on social networks, that any intervention by the ICC “would create a dangerous precedent that would threaten the soldiers and leaders of all democracies fighting against savage terrorism and gratuitous aggression”.
Mr. Netanyahu did not explain what prompted his statement, although he may have been responding to speculation about the arrest warrants in the Israeli press.
He also said: “Under my leadership, Israel will never accept any attempt by the ICC to undermine its inherent right of self-defense. The threat to seize the soldiers and officials of the Middle East’s only democracy and the world’s only Jewish state is outrageous. We will not comply.
Based in The Hague, the ICC is the world’s only permanent international court with the power to prosecute individuals accused of war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity. The court does not have its own police force. Instead, he relies on his 124 members, which includes most European countries but not Israel or the United States, to arrest people named in the arrest warrants. It can’t try the accused in absentia.
But court arrest warrants can pose obstacles to the travel of officials named therein.
The Hamas-led raid last October resulted in the deaths of around 1,200 people in Israel and the kidnapping of some 250 others, according to Israeli officials. The ensuing war in Gaza, including intense Israeli bombardment, killed more than 34,000 people, according to Gaza officials, caused extensive damage to housing and infrastructure and brought the territory to the brink of famine.
The Israeli assault on Gaza led the International Court of Justice, a tribunal separate from The Hague, to hear accusations of genocide against the Israeli state and incited a wave of protests on college campuses in the United States.
If the ICC issued arrest warrants, they would carry deep stigmatization, placing those named in them in the same category as foreign leaders like Omar al-Bashir, the deposed president of Sudan, and Vladimir V. Putin, the president Russian, who was the subject of an arrest warrant last year linked to his war against Ukraine.
The ICC’s focus on individuals rather than states differentiates it from the International Court of Justice, which resolves disputes between states.
ICC judges ruled that the court had jurisdiction over Gaza and the West Bank because the Palestinians joined the court as the State of Palestine.
Mr Khan said that his team will investigate incidents since October 7 and that he will “impartially examine the evidence and defend the rights of victims, whether they are in Israel or Palestine.”
Mr Khan’s office also investigated war crimes allegations committed during the 2014 war between Israel and Hamas; One of the officials who spoke on condition of anonymity said the new arrest warrants would be an extension of that investigation.
Hamas and the Israeli army did not respond to requests for comment. The office of Yoav Gallant, the Israeli defense minister, declined to comment.
In general, Israeli officials say they fight according to the laws of war and take significant steps to protect civilians, accusing Hamas of hiding in civilian areas and forcing Israel to pursue them there. Hamas denied committing atrocities on October 7, saying – despite video evidence to the contrary – that its fighters had tried to avoid harming civilians.
Marlise Simons, Gabby Sobelman And Myra Noveck reports contributed.
