Hungary says it is withdrawing from ICC as Israeli leader visits

Hungary's government has decided to withdraw from the International Criminal Court (ICC), it said on Thursday, shortly after Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu, sought under an ICC arrest warrant, arrived in the country for a state visit.

Right-wing Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban invited his Israeli counterpart to Budapest in November, a day after the ICC issued its arrest warrant over charges of war crimes in Gaza.

Hungary was among the first countries that ratified the Rome Statute, the treaty that established the ICC in 2002.

All 125 states parties to the statute, including all EU countries, are under a legal obligation to arrest and surrender Netanyahu to the Hague-based court. 

It became the first EU country to pull out of the treaty.