ICC rejects Israeli appeal seeking to suspend ongoing Gaza war probe

Appeals judges at the International Criminal Court (ICC) on Monday rejected one of several legal challenges brought by Israel against the Court’s investigation into its conduct during the Gaza war.

On appeal, the chamber refused to overturn a lower court’s decision that the Office of the Prosecutor’s probe into alleged crimes falling within the Court’s jurisdiction may include events that took place after the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack in southern Israel.

This decision means the investigation will continue, and the arrest warrants issued last year for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant remain in effect.

The ruling addresses only one of several legal challenges filed by Israel against the ICC investigation and the arrest warrants. No timeline has yet been set for the Court’s decisions on Israel’s other requests, which concern its jurisdiction.

Israeli Foreign Ministry official Gideon Saar condemned the Court’s latest decision, saying it was “yet another example of the ICC’s ongoing politicization and its blatant disregard for the sovereign rights of non-party states, as well as its own obligations under the Rome Statute. This is what politics disguised as ‘international law’ looks like.”