No legal basis to suspend arrest warrants for Israeli officials: ICC prosecutor

By Burak Bir

LONDON (AA) - The International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor said Friday that Israel's appeal of the arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defense minister should be dismissed and the appeal proceedings discontinued.

In a document posted on the ICC website, Karim Khan requested the dismissal of Israel's appeal as the decision is not subject to appeal as of now, though an appeal could potentially be filed at a later stage in the legal process.

Israel on Wednesday filed a direct appeal before the Appeals Chamber to the Pre-Trial Chamber I’s "decision on Israel’s challenge to the jurisdiction of the Court pursuant to article 19(2) of the Rome Statute."

Last week, the ICC issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant, his defense minister since the start of the Gaza war until earlier this month, for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

Saying that the court's decision is not appealable, Khan said the decision tells Israel that it cannot file a challenge to jurisdiction before the court has made a decision under Article 58 of the Rome Statute, but also holds that such a challenge could potentially be made once that condition is satisfied.

He said: "The Decision is not a decision ‘with respect to jurisdiction’ and it is therefore not directly appealable under article 82(1)(a) of the Statute."

"Accordingly, these appeal proceedings should be discontinued and Israel’s Suspension Request be rejected while the proceedings before PreTrial Chamber with respect to the same Decision follow their course," added the prosecutor.

"In any event, there is no legal basis to suspend the arrest warrants issued by the Pre-Trial Chamber."

Israel launched a genocidal war on the Gaza Strip following an October 2023 cross-border attack by the Palestinian group Hamas, so far killing over 44,300 people, most of them women and children, and injuring nearly 105,000.

The second year of genocide in Gaza has drawn growing international condemnation, with officials and institutions calling the attacks and blocking of humanitarian aid a deliberate attempt to destroy the population.

Israel faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its deadly war on Gaza.