This is a breaking news story, more details to follow.
The United Kingdom has said it will not proceed with efforts to question whether the International Criminal Court (ICC) has jurisdiction to issue arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.
In May, ICC prosecutor Karim Khan applied for arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant for alleged war crimes committed during Israel’s war on Gaza.
He also sought warrants for three leaders of Palestinian group Hamas over alleged war crimes committed during the October 7 attacks on southern Israel.
Court documents made public in June showed Britain, an ICC member state, had filed a request with the court to provide written observations on whether “the court can exercise jurisdiction over Israeli nationals, in circumstances where Palestine cannot exercise criminal jurisdiction over Israeli nationals [under] the Oslo Accords”.
On Friday, Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s spokesperson said: “I can confirm the government will not be pursuing [the proposal] in line with our long-standing position that this is a matter for the court to decide on.”
More to come…