THE HAGUE: The Appeals Chamber of the International Criminal Court (ICC) Thursday rejected a request to cancel or suspend the arrest warrants issued against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Army Minister Yoav Gallant.
According to Palestine News and Info Agency (WAFA), in its statement on Thursday the ICC clarified that while it accepted Israel’s appeal for a reconsideration of the Court’s jurisdiction over crimes committed in Palestinian territories, this did not affect the standing arrest warrants.
The issue of jurisdiction, the Chamber explained, concerns whether the ICC can prosecute individuals for alleged crimes committed in Gaza and the West Bank, areas where Palestinian statehood and sovereignty remain contested.
The decision mandates that the matter of jurisdiction be returned to the ICC’s Pre-Trial Chamber, which originally issued the arrest warrants on November 21, 2024. The Pre-Trial Chamber had previously found reasonable grounds to believe Netanyahu and Gallant bore responsibility for war crimes and crimes against humanity.
The Appeals Chamber emphasised that the arrest warrants remain valid and unaffected by the jurisdictional review, which will now proceed with further examination of Israel’s legal arguments.
