Some Republicans are reportedly hoping to dissuade the international court from issuing arrest warrants for the Israeli leadership
A group of Republican lawmakers in the US House of Representatives is devising sanctions against the International Criminal Court (ICC) in a bid to protect Israeli leaders, Axios has reported.
The measures are aimed at deterring the international body from issuing arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and several other senior officials over the ongoing military campaign against Hamas in Gaza.
Launched following the incursion by the militant group on October 7, which claimed the lives of around 1,200 Israelis, the offensive has resulted in the deaths of nearly 35,000 Palestinians, mostly civilians, according to Hamas-controlled health authorities.
The campaign has widely been regarded as a disproportionate and heavy-handed response by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), and has attracted increasing criticism in recent months, including from countries that traditionally back Israel, such as the US and some Western European nations.
In January, the United Nations International Court of Justice (ICJ) said in a ruling that it was “plausible” that the Israeli military had committed genocide in the densely populated Palestinian enclave.
Over the past few weeks, several media outlets have claimed that the ICC could charge the Israeli leadership with war crimes.
In an article on Tuesday, Axios quoted House Foreign Affairs Committee Chair Michael McCaul as saying that he and his colleagues had been in contact with ICC prosecutor Karim Khan.