Afrasianet - The Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague, Karim Khan, has urged judges at the court to reject Israel's appeal to investigate the war in the Gaza Strip.

This comes after Israel filed an appeal to the International Criminal Court, demanding the suspension and reconsideration of the arrest warrants issued by Khan in November 2024 against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Galant, on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity committed during military operations in Gaza.

In December 2024, Khan had previously called on the Appeals Chamber to reject this request, considering it irrelevant at the moment, with the possibility of such a request being made at later stages of the judicial process.

The ICC issued the arrest warrants based on investigations into violations committed in Gaza since October 2023, which resulted in thousands of civilian casualties and extensive destruction of infrastructure.

For its part, Israel strongly criticized these steps, describing them as politicized and lacking legitimacy, and calling on the international community to reject the arrest warrants issued against its leaders.

In this context, the US House of Representatives passed a bill imposing sanctions on officials of the International Criminal Court, in response to the verdicts issued against the Israeli prime minister and his former defense minister.