In November 2024, the Pre-Trial Chamber of the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant against the Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, and his former Minister of Defense, Yoav Gallant, on charges that would include war crimes and crimes against humanity committed during the conflagration between Israel and Hamas that began on October 7, 2023. In the same document, the arrest of three leaders of the Palestinian party-militia, today presumed dead.
Now, the ICC can expand its trial against Israeli leaders, according to the local press. This Sunday, the newspaper Haaretz published that the Court’s chief prosecutor has already requested “sealed arrest warrants against an undetermined number of Israeli officials,” according to a source familiar with the process. Another diplomatic source indicated that these orders would be directed against two Israeli politicians and two Israeli soldiers, but that the date of issuance of the request is unknown.
Hours later, less progressive media such as Ynet o The Times of Israel They have described this information as “inaccurate” or “incorrect” because the orders, they clarify, have not yet been processed, although neither of them deny that, in fact, they have already been drafted and there is an intention to carry them out. What’s more: in these diaries it is maintained that five and not four orders are studied. Everyone, however, recognizes that they would affect the Minister of National Security, Itamar Ben Gvir, and the head of Finance, Bezalel Smotrich, as well as other Israeli, political and military officials.
ICC spokesperson Oriane Maillet stated in a press release that the report was not accurate and that the court “denies the issuance of new arrest warrants in relation to the situation in the State of Palestine.” “In his statement, he did not deny that they were requesting new orders,” clarifies the Times.
Eliav Lieblich, professor of public international law at Tel Aviv University, told Haaretz that the ICC Constitution does not require the court to notify suspects of the arrest warrant. That’s where the confusion can lie. “The reason for publishing arrest warrants, as was done in the cases of Russian President Vladimir Putin, Netanyahu and Gallant, is deterrence. The reason for maintaining secrecy increases the probability that the person will reach the place where they will be arrested,” adds the specialist. He indicated that the arrest warrants against Netanyahu and Galant caused them to “avoid visiting places” where they risk being arrested, he explains.
Lieblich also highlights that the ICC arrest warrants put the court and its judges in the spotlight, who are currently subject to sanctions by the United States. This tipped the balance in favor of the policy of not issuing arrest warrants.
The diary The Wall Street Journal reported in May 2025 that ICC chief prosecutor Karim Khan was planning to issue arrest warrants against Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir even then. According to his sources, Khan was investigating the role of Benjamin Netanyahu’s two ultra-nationalist and religious associates in the expansion of Israeli settlements in the West Bank and whether this violated the Geneva Conventions, which prohibit countries from moving their populations to the territories they have occupied.
Since then, however, Khan has been temporarily suspended from his position following a sexual assault complaint against a court employee. The digital diary Middle East Eye He revealed in March that he has been acquitted.
Since the Hamas attack on October 7, eight countries have banned Ben-Gvir and Smotrich from entering their territories: Slovenia, Australia, Canada, the Netherlands, Norway, Belgium, Spain and New Zealand. Furthermore, in July last year, the Dutch government blacklisted the ministers and banned them from entering the 29 European countries that are signatories to the Schengen Agreement.
In 2024, the ICC found reasonable grounds to issue arrest warrants against Netanyahu and Galant for committing war crimes in the Gaza Strip, an area that has been under a supposed ceasefire since last October, which is violated daily. The court determined at the time that they were responsible for mass starvation, murder, persecution and intentionally directing attacks against the civilian population.
The court had rejected Israel’s appeals regarding its authority to intervene in the Gaza war and ruled that Israel’s consent to recognize such authority was not necessary to accept the request for arrest warrants.
Israel rejects the jurisdiction of the ICC, based in The Hague, to arrest or prosecute its leaders, since it never acceded to the international conventions that created it, and argues that membership of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) does not grant jurisdiction to the ICC either, due to explicit provisions of the Oslo Accords.
