OCCUPIED JERUSALEM: Israel said on Friday it had submitted an “official challenge” to a request from the International Criminal Court prosecutor for an arrest warrant against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

ICC prosecutor Karim Khan in May requested the court issue arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Defence Minister Yoav Gallant over alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

Israel has waged war in Gaza against Hamas since the Palestinian group’s unprecedented attack on southern Israel on October 7.

“The State of Israel submitted today its official challenge to the ICC’s jurisdiction, as well as the legality of the prosecutor’s requests for arrest warrants against Israel’s prime minister and minister of defence,” foreign ministry spokesman Oren Marmorstein said on X.

ICC prosecutor urges judges to urgently rule on warrants for Israeli, Hamas officials

Khan also sought warrants against top Hamas leaders Yahya Sinwar, Ismail Haniyeh and Mohammed Deif on suspicion of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

The prosecutor dropped the application for Haniyeh on August 2 “because of the changed circumstances caused by Mr Haniyeh’s death” in Tehran on July 31, the ICC said in a statement this month.

Deif was killed by a strike on July 13 in southern Gaza, according to Israel, though Hamas denies he is dead.

The court is still weighing Khan’s application for an arrest warrant for Netanyahu and Gallant.

In August, Khan’s office urged the court to take action “with utmost urgency”, saying that it was “settled law that the court has jurisdiction in this situation”.

Marmorstein said on Friday that Khan had failed “to provide Israel with the opportunity to exercise its right to investigate by itself the claims raised by the prosecutor, before proceeding.”

Khan’s charges against Netanyahu and Gallant include “starvation of civilians”, “extermination”, and “intentionally directing attacks against a civilian population”.

Unlike the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which deals with disputes between countries, the ICC tries individuals suspected of the most heinous crimes.

It is the world’s only independent court set up to probe the gravest offences, including genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity.

However it relies on its member states to carry out arrest warrants and has no police force of its own.