The ICC has issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu and others in connection with the Gaza conflict.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said on Friday that he would invite Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to visit Hungary and would guarantee him that the arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for Netanyahu on suspicion of war crimes in Gaza “would not be respected”. TASR reports according to Reuters.
In addition to Netanyahu, the Hague-based ICC issued arrest warrants Thursday for his former defense minister, Yoav Galant, and the leader of Hamas’ military wing, Muhammad Daif, for alleged crimes against humanity and war crimes in the Gaza conflict.
Orbán, whose country currently holds the rotating presidency of the European Union, told Hungarian state radio that the arrest warrant issued by the ICC “is not correct” and added that Netanyahu will be able to negotiate in Hungary “in reasonable safety”, Reuters quotes.
Israel has been fighting in the Gaza Strip since October 2023, when a terrorist attack by the radical Hamas movement killed 1,206 people, mostly civilians. Approximately 250 captured hostages were taken to the Gaza Strip. According to the Hamas-controlled Ministry of Health there, Israel’s military operations have already claimed more than 44,000 lives.
More than two million Palestinians live in makeshift shelters and the Gaza Strip is at risk of starvation due to a lack of food and medicine.
The court said it found “reasonable grounds” to believe that Netanyahu and Galant bear criminal responsibility for the war crime of starvation as a method of warfare, as well as for crimes against humanity – murder, persecution and other inhumane acts.
