International court appeals panel orders judges to reconsider Israel’s jurisdiction challenge

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This article was published 24/04/2025 (497 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — Appeals judges at the International Criminal Court on Thursday ordered a pretrial panel to reconsider an Israeli appeal against the court’s jurisdiction over Gaza and the West Bank.

The decision comes amid ongoing litigation into Israel’s assertion that the court did not have the legal authority to issue arrest warrants in November for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defense minister, Yoav Gallant.

The warrants allege that Netanyahu and Gallant are responsible for crimes against humanity in the Gaza war. Israel, which is not a member of the court and rejects its jurisdiction, strongly refutes the allegations.

Judges at The Hague-based court dismissed a request from Israel to suspend the warrants.

But in a legal victory for Israel, appeals judges said in their written decision that the pretrial panel “committed an error of law by failing to sufficiently address Israel’s argument that it was entitled to make a jurisdictional challenge” under the court’s founding treaty, the Rome Statute.

It ordered the pretrial judges to make a “new ruling on the substance of Israel’s challenge to the jurisdiction of the Court.” The challenge was filed in September — before the warrants were issued — and rejected two months later. It was not immediately clear how long judges will take to issue a new ruling.

In a statement on X, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said the arrest warrants were issued unlawfully and are “null and void.”

Israel has long argued that it does not have jurisdiction. The court, however, has accepted “The State of Palestine” as one of its 125 member nations.

“We said it from the start: The International Criminal Court in The Hague (ICC) doesn’t have, and never had, jurisdiction to issue arrest warrants against Israel’s Prime Minister and its former Minister of Defense. Israel is not a member of the ICC and is not party to the ‘Rome Statute.’” Saar wrote.

The ICC prosecutor’s office said in a written response that it was studying the decision and had no immediate comment.

When issuing the arrest warrants, judges said there was reason to believe Netanyahu and Gallant have used “starvation as a method of warfare” by restricting humanitarian aid and have intentionally targeted civilians in Israel’s campaign against Hamas in Gaza — charges Israeli officials deny.

Along with the warrants for the Israeli officials, the court also issued a warrant for Mohammed Deif, head of Hamas’ armed wing, over the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks that triggered Israel’s offensive in Gaza. It said it found reasonable grounds to believe Deif was involved in murder, rape, torture and the taking of hostages amounting to war crimes and crimes against humanity. The warrant was withdrawn in February, after his death in an Israeli airstrike was confirmed.