Israeli officials worry about possible ICC arrest warrants as pressure mounts on Gaza war

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli officials appear increasingly concerned that the International Criminal Court may issue arrest warrants for the country’s leaders as international pressure mounts over the war in Gaza. Airstrikes overnight Monday killed 22 people in a southern town, hospital records showed.

The dead in Rafah include six women and five children, one of whom was only five days old, according to records and an Associated Press reporter. Israel is considering an invasion of the city – although its closest ally, the United States and others, have repeatedly warned against such a move, saying an offensive would be a disaster for many. million Palestinians sheltering there.

Meanwhile, Israeli officials have spoken in recent days of an ICC investigation launched three years ago into possible war crimes committed by Israel and Palestinian militants dating back to the 2014 Israel-Hamas war. on Israel’s construction of settlements in the occupied territories that the Palestinians want for their future state.

The court made no comment Monday and gave no indication that arrest warrants were imminent in the case.

But Israel’s Foreign Ministry said Sunday evening it had informed Israeli missions of “rumors” that arrest warrants could be issued against senior political and military officials. Foreign Minister Israel Katz said such mandates would “boost the morale” of Hamas and other militant groups.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Friday that Israel “will never accept any attempt by the ICC to undermine its inherent right of self-defense.”

“The threat to seize the soldiers and officials of the Middle East’s only democracy and the world’s only Jewish state is outrageous. We will not comply,” he said on social media platform X.

It is unclear what exactly sparked Israeli concerns. A series of Israeli announcements in recent days to allow more humanitarian aid into Gaza appear aimed in part at preventing possible ICC action.

ICC prosecutor Karim Khan said during a visit to the region in December that the investigation “is moving forward at pace, with rigor, with determination and with the insistence that we act not on the basis of of our emotions but on the basis of solid evidence.

Neither Israel nor the United States accepts the jurisdiction of the ICC, but any arrest warrant could put Israeli officials at risk of arrest in other countries. They would also constitute a major rebuke of Israel’s actions at a time when pro-Palestinian protests have spread to American college campuses.

The International Court of Justice, a separate body, is investigating whether Israel committed acts of genocide in the ongoing war in Gaza, and a decision is expected to take years. Israel has rejected allegations of wrongdoing and accused both international tribunals of bias.

Israel instead accused Hamas of genocide for its October 7 attack that sparked the war. Militants stormed military bases and farming communities in southern Israel, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking about 250 hostages.

In response, Israel launched a massive air, sea and land offensive that killed more than 34,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to Gaza’s health ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and fighters in his count.

Israel blames the high number of civilian deaths on Hamas because the militants fight in dense residential areas. The army claims to have killed more than 12,000 militants, without providing evidence.

The war has driven around 80 percent of Gaza’s 2.3 million people from their homes, caused widespread destruction in several towns and pushed northern Gaza to the brink of famine.

Israel has pledged to expand its ground offensive in Rafah, where more than a million Palestinians have sought refuge from fighting elsewhere. Israel says Rafah is Hamas’ last stronghold, with thousands of fighters embedded there.

US President Joe Biden’s administration, which has provided crucial military and political support for the offensive, has urged Israel not to invade Rafah out of fear it would cause a humanitarian catastrophe – concerns it reiterated during a phone call with Netanyahu on Sunday.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken is expected to visit Israel on his latest trip to the region that began Monday in Saudi Arabia.

The United States, Egypt and Qatar are meanwhile pushing Israel and Hamas to accept a deal they drafted that would free some of the hostages and establish at least a temporary ceasefire. Hamas is believed to still be holding around 100 hostages and the remains of around 30 others after most of the others were released in exchange for the release of Palestinian prisoners last year.

Hamas said it would not release the remaining hostages without an agreement to end the war. Netanyahu rejected the demand, saying Israel would continue its offensive until Hamas is destroyed and all hostages are returned.

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Magdy reported from Cairo. Associated Press writer Michael Corder reported from The Hague, Netherlands.

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Follow AP’s coverage of the war at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war