People protest in support of Palestinians in Gaza as the conflict between Israel and Hamas continues, at the headquarters of the International Criminal Court (ICC), which has ongoing investigations into potential atrocity crimes carried out by Hamas in Israel, and by Israelis in the Gaza Strip going back to 2014, and which also covers the current conflict, in The Hague, Netherlands October 18, 2023.(Credit: Piroschka van de Wouw/File Photo/Reuters)
Britain said on Friday it would not proceed with efforts to question whether the International Criminal Court (ICC) has jurisdiction to issue arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Yoav Gallant.
The United Kingdom's PM Stramer's spokesperson stated that it is for the court to decide.
In May, the ICC's prosecutor said he had requested arrest warrants for Netanyahu, Gallant and three Hamas leaders over alleged war crimes.
Court documents made public in June showed Britain, an ICC member state, had filed a request with the court to provide written observations on whether "the court can exercise jurisdiction over Israeli nationals, in circumstances where Palestine cannot exercise criminal jurisdiction over Israeli nationals (under) the Oslo Accords".
Since then, Britain has elected a new government run by the Labour Party, and Prime Minister Keir Starmer's spokesperson said the previous government had not submitted its proposal before the July 4 election.
"On the ICC submission... I can confirm the government will not be pursuing (the proposal) in line with our long-standing position that this is a matter for the court to decide on," the spokesperson told reporters. (Reporting by Alistair Smout, editing by William James)
