The International Criminal Court denied as “inaccurate” a Sunday report in the Haaretz daily, according to which its chief prosecutor’s office issued arrest warrants for National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, as well as three other Israeli officials.

According to the report, which cited a diplomatic source, one of the other warrants would be against a politician and the other two would be against military officials. The specific individuals were not named.

The newspaper first reported that the warrants had been issued already, then changed the story to say that they’d been requested by the office of the chief prosecutor, but were pending approval by judges.

ICC spokesperson Oriane Maillet said in a note to journalists that the report was not accurate, and the court “denies the issuance of new arrest warrants in the situation in the state of Palestine.”

Her statement did not deny that they were seeking new warrants.

In the past, the ICC has often issued its arrest warrants secretly and only subsequently made them public, so it would not necessarily be announced even if it were to be approved.

The Foreign Affairs Ministry and the State Attorney’s Office did not respond immediately to requests for comment on the report.

Arrest warrants were issued against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former defense minister Yoav Gallant in November 2024, after the ICC’s then-chief prosecutor Karim Khan filed a public request for the warrants in May 2024.

Khan alleged at the time that the two leaders were responsible for the commission of war crimes and crimes against humanity........

© The Times of Israel