ICC Prosecutors Are Furious And Ask For An Effort To Appeal The Suspension Of Netanyahu's Arrest To Be Rejected

Former Israeli defense minister Yoav Gallant and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. (DOC.ANTARA/Anadolu/py)

JAKARTA - Prosecutors of the International Criminal Court (ICC) on Friday stated that Israel's appeal against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former defense minister's arrest warrants had to be rejected, and the appeal process was discontinued.

In a document published on the ICC website, Karim Khan requested that Israel's appeal be rejected because for the decision, at this time there is no appeal, although an appeal may be filed at the next stage in legal proceedings.

Earlier, last Wednesday, Israel filed a direct appeal to the Chamber of Appeals over the decision of the Chamber of Pretrial I regarding "Israel's challenge to the jurisdiction of the Court under Article 19 (2) of the Rome Statute."

Last week, the ICC issued arrest warrants against Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant, its defense minister during the war in Gaza until earlier this month, on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

Declaring that the decision cannot be appealed, Khan explained that the decision stated that Israel could not file a judicial challenge before the court made a decision based on Article 58 of the Rome Statute. However, such challenges can be brought up once these conditions are met.

He said: "This decision is not a'regarding jurisdiction' decision and therefore cannot be appealed directly based on Article 82(1)(a) Statute."

"Therefore, this appeal process must be stopped and Israel's Suspension Request must be rejected, while the process in the Pretrial Room regarding the same decision continues," Khan added, quoted from ANTARA, Saturday, November 30.

"However, there is no legal basis for suspending an arrest warrant issued by the Chamber of Pretrial."

Israel launched a genocide war in the Gaza Strip after a cross-border attack by Palestinian Struggle group Hamas, in October 2023. The brutal Israeli invasion killed more than 44,300 people, mostly women and children, and injured nearly 105.000 people.

The second year of genocide in Gaza has sparked increasingly widespread international condemnation, with international figures and agencies calling attacks and blockades of humanitarian aid an intentional attempt to destroy Palestinians.

Israel faces a genocide case at the International Court over its deadly war in Gaza.