Bipartisan talks in US Senate over potential sanctions against International Criminal Court hit snag

By Zehra Nur Duz

ANKARA (AA) – Bipartisan negotiations in the US Senate over potential sanctions against the International Criminal Court (ICC) have reached an impasse, media reports said on Tuesday.

Talks between leading Senate Democratic and Republican negotiators have stalled, Axios reported, citing two sources familiar with the discussions.

No further negotiations are planned between the groups led by Foreign Relations Committee chair Ben Cardin (D-Md.) and the committee's top Republican Jim Risch (R-Idaho), the American news website said.

However, Cardin is still discussing the ICC's recent decision with other Republicans who are not on the committee, one of the sources told the media outlet.

Republicans are advocating for a vote on a House bill imposing sanctions on the ICC, while Democrats prefer a more restrained response.

The lack of a bipartisan agreement in the Senate may jeopardize the possibility of Congress passing any ICC-related legislation, leaving the task of addressing the court's actions to the White House.

ICC chief prosecutor Karim Khan recommended war crimes charges against Israeli leaders, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Following the move, Republican lawmakers called for the US to impose sanctions on the Court.

Israel has faced international condemnation amid its continued brutal offensive on Gaza since an Oct. 7 attack by the Palestinian group Hamas, despite a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire.

More than 37,100 Palestinians have since been killed in Gaza, most of them women and children, and nearly 84,700 others injured, according to local health authorities.

More than eight months into the Israeli war, vast tracts of Gaza lay in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water, and medicine.

Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, whose latest ruling ordered Tel Aviv to immediately halt its operation in the southern city of Rafah, where over a million Palestinians had sought refuge from the war before it was invaded on May 6.