DaysofPal – The International Criminal Court (ICC) has rejected Israel’s appeal to overturn arrest warrants issued for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, reaffirming that the case against them will proceed.
In its ruling on Friday, the ICC said that Israel’s request to cancel the warrants was “not subject to appeal,” effectively ending months of legal wrangling by Tel Aviv to halt proceedings.
The decision followed an earlier July 16 order in which judges dismissed Israel’s petition, finding “no legal basis” to withdraw the warrants while the question of jurisdiction remained unresolved.
Israel had asked the court in May to suspend or cancel the warrants pending a separate challenge over the ICC’s authority to prosecute alleged crimes committed in Gaza and the occupied Palestinian territories.
The court’s rejection marks another setback for Israel, which has repeatedly denounced the ICC’s actions as politically motivated. Although Israel is not a party to the Rome Statute, the treaty establishing the ICC, the State of Palestine joined the court in 2015, granting it jurisdiction over crimes committed in its territory, including Gaza, the West Bank, and East Jerusalem.
The warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant were issued in November 2024 on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity, allegedly committed during Israel’s military campaign in Gaza following the Hamas-led attack of October 7, 2023. It was the first time in the ICC’s history that such warrants targeted senior officials from a Western-allied state.
The decision was hailed by Palestinians as a “historic milestone” in the pursuit of accountability, while Israeli officials condemned it as “antisemitic.”
The ruling has intensified friction between the ICC and Israel’s main ally, the United States. Washington has imposed sanctions on several ICC judges and prosecutors, accusing the court of threatening U.S. and Israeli national security.
The ICC responded by warning that such measures undermine “the rules-based international order and the rights of millions of victims worldwide.”
Under the Rome Statute, all 124 member states, including every country in the European Union, are legally obligated to arrest Netanyahu and Gallant if they enter their territory and transfer them to The Hague. However, the court has no enforcement powers and cannot try defendants in absentia, meaning the case will stall unless the accused are apprehended.
Israel’s 2023–2025 war on Gaza, led by Netanyahu and Gallant, has drawn widespread international condemnation. The offensive, launched after Hamas’s surprise attack that killed around 1,180 Israelis, resulted in the deaths of more than 68,000 Palestinians, over 80 percent of them civilians, according to leaked Israeli military data. Thousands more remain missing beneath the rubble.
The campaign also severely damaged Gaza’s infrastructure, destroying or damaging more than 83% of the enclave’s structures, including churches, mosques, schools, and hospitals.
International organizations and UN experts have accused Israel of committing acts of genocide against the Palestinian population.
Earlier this week, U.S. President Donald Trump announced the official end of the war after Israel and Hamas signed a ceasefire and prisoner exchange deal brokered in Egypt.
The ICC’s latest decision reinforces the court’s jurisdiction over crimes committed in occupied Palestine and signals that, despite political pressure, international justice mechanisms remain unwilling to back down.
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