Borrell: ICC arrest warrants for Israeli, Hamas leaders binding for all EU states

BRUSSELS - The arrest warrants of the International Criminal Court for Israeli and Hamas leaders are binding for all EU member states, the EU's foreign chief Josep Borrell said in a post on X on Thursday.

"These decisions are binding on all states party to the Rome Statute, which includes all EU Member States," he said.

Irish Prime Minister Simon Harris said the ICC's arrest warrants were a significant and serious step.

"The decision ... is an extremely significant step," Harris said in a statement. "These charges could not be more serious.

"Ireland respects the role of the International Criminal Court. Anyone in a position to assist it in carrying out its vital work must now do so with urgency." 

The ICC issued arrest warrants on Thursday for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defence chief, as well as a Hamas leader, Ibrahim Al-Masri, for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Gaza conflict.

In their decision, the ICC judges said there were reasonable grounds to believe Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant were criminally responsible for acts including murder, persecution and starvation as a weapon of war as part of a "widespread and systematic attack against the civilian population of Gaza".

The decision was met with outrage in Israel, which called it shameful and absurd. Hamas welcomed the warrants against the Israelis, and a senior official told Reuters it was a first step towards justice.

The warrant for Masri lists charges of mass killings during the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks on Israel that triggered the Gaza war, and also charges of rape and the taking of hostages.

Israel has said it killed Masri, also known as Mohammed Deif, in an airstrike in July but Hamas has neither confirmed nor denied this. The prosecution indicated it would continue to gather information with respect to his reported death.

Israel has rejected the jurisdiction of the Hague-based court and denies war crimes in Gaza. The United States, Israel's main diplomatic supporter, is also not a member of the ICC.

ICC prosecutor Karim Khan had announced on May 20 that he was seeking arrest warrants for alleged crimes connected to the Hamas-led attacks on Israel and the Israeli military response in Gaza. Israeli and Hamas leaders have dismissed allegations that they committed war crimes.

The court does not have its own police force to carry out arrests and relies on its 124 member states for that. Whether they are arrested or not depends on the member states. They have an obligation to do so but the court has only limited diplomatic means to force them if they do not want to.