ICC prosecutor’s decision against Netanyahu and Gallant ‘scandalous,’ says Israeli minister

JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israel’s foreign minister said on Monday that the International Criminal Court prosecutor’s request for arrest warrants against Israel’s prime minister and defense minister was “scandalous” and amounted to an attack on the victims of the Hamas raid of October 7.

ICC prosecutor Karim Khan is seeking arrest warrants for Netanyahu, Gallant and three leaders of the Palestinian militant group Hamas for alleged war crimes. A panel of pretrial judges will determine whether the evidence supports his request.

Minister of Foreign Affairs Israel Katz said he had opened a special war room within the Foreign Ministry to thwart the ICC prosecutor’s decision.

No force in the world would stop Israel from bringing back hostages captured in Israel by Hamas-led gunmen on October 7 from Gaza and overthrowing the Palestinian militant group.

Katz, a member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ruling Likud party, said the situation room would work to fight the decision, which he said was aimed at tying Israel’s hands and preventing it from exercise your right to self-defense.

“I intend to speak with the foreign ministers of major countries in the world to urge them to oppose the prosecutor’s decision and to state that even if arrest warrants are issued, they have not “I have no intention of applying them against Israeli leaders,” Katz said.

(Reporting by Maytaal Angel, editing by Ed Osmond)