Israeli officials have in recent days begun expressing fears that the International Criminal Court could issue arrest warrants against senior Israeli political and military figures, as the war between the Jewish state and Hamas in Gaza approaches its eighth month.
The ICC has not confirmed the Israeli claims, saying that while it has an “ongoing, independent investigation in relation to the situation in the state of Palestine”, which dates from 2021, it would not “give a running commentary” or respond to “speculation in media reports”.
Given a lack of confirmation — and the relatively slow pace at which the ICC has moved in other cases — there has been speculation in the Israeli media that the hand-wringing stems from political calculations by the country’s leaders who are under mounting pressure at home and abroad, rather than legal peril.
But the claims have drawn renewed attention to the potential for legal actions over the Gaza war, which has already triggered a…