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Are Netanyahu and Gallant immune from arrest under international law?

22 November 2024 17:25 GMT

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defence minister, Yoav Gallant, are now fugitives under international law, after the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for them on Thursday.

All 124 state parties to the Rome Statute, including all EU members, are now under a legal obligation to arrest the pair.

The fact that they belong to a state that is not party to the treaty, however, may be used to invoke immunity, experts told Middle East Eye. 

The arrest warrants are part of a war-crimes investigation on the situation in Palestine, launched in 2021 by the former ICC prosecutor. 

Israel is not a member of the ICC, but the State of Palestine was granted membership in 2015. Accordingly, the court can investigate Israeli individuals for crimes committed in occupied Palestine, which includes the Gaza Strip, the West Bank and East Jerusalem. 

Read more: Are Netanyahu and Gallant immune from arrest under international law?

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and then defence minister Yoav Gallant during a press conference in the Kirya military base in Tel Aviv, Israel, 28 October 2023 (Reuters)