Amnesty International says states must arrest Netanyahu under ICC warrant

Amnesty International has reminded states that are members of the International Criminal Court (ICC) of their legal duty to arrest and surrender Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu if he enters their territory, according to a statement the human rights organisation posted to social media.

The organisation said that "member states of the court have the legal obligation to detain and surrender Netanyahu if he sets foot on their territories." The statement did not specify which states it was addressing, but the wording refers to the obligations of all parties to the Rome Statute, the treaty that established the ICC.

In the same statement, Amnesty International condemned what it described as the "policies and actions of the Netanyahu government linked to the expansion of settlements and serious human rights violations in the West Bank and Gaza." The organisation linked its call for arrest to those policies, framing the legal duty as part of the court's broader proceedings.

The statement follows the ICC's earlier issuance of an arrest warrant for Netanyahu, which obliges member states to act on it. Under the Rome Statute, states parties are required to cooperate with the court and execute its requests for arrest and surrender. Amnesty's message reiterates that obligation at a time when several governments have faced questions about whether they would carry it out.

The human rights group has repeatedly raised concerns about conditions in the West Bank and Gaza, including settlement expansion and what it describes as violations of international humanitarian and human rights law. Its latest statement places those concerns alongside the legal duty it says states owe to the court.

There was no immediate public response from the Israeli government included in the report. The statement was distributed through Amnesty International's social media channels and carried by Mehr News, which reported the organisation's position and its reference to the court's member states.

According to Mehr News, the statement stressed the obligation of ICC member states to detain and surrender Netanyahu should he enter their territories, and included Amnesty's condemnation of the Netanyahu government's settlement expansion and human rights record in the West Bank and Gaza.