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Israeli foreign ministry sets up crisis center over potential ICC warrant for PM

Israel Katz also noted that he plans to get in touch with his counterparts from leading countries to recruit their support against the ICC

TEL AVIV, May 20. /TASS/. A crisis center will be set up by the Israeli foreign ministry following the decision of the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) to request that arrest warrants be issued for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz said.

"I have issued an executive order to set up a special command center at the foreign ministry involving all professional structures to counteract the [ICC’s] decision that is geared, first of all, to bind Israel hand and foot and not let it realize its right to self-defense," he wrote on his X account.

He also noted that he plans to get in touch with his counterparts from leading countries to recruit their support against the ICC. According to Katz, he wants the partners speak up against the ICC prosecutor’s decision and guarantee that their countries would not take any measures against the Israeli officials in case such warrants are issued.

He slammed the ICC prosecutor’s statement as revolting, calling it an "attack on the October 7, 2023 victims [of the Hamas attack] and the 128 Israeli hostages who are still held in the Gaza Strip." The top Israeli diplomat rejected the comparison between his country’s leadership and the leaders of the radical Palestinian movement Hamas. "While Hamas murderers and rapists are committing crimes against humanity, against our brothers and sisters, the prosecutor is mentioning the Israeli prime minister and defense minister along with the nasty Nazi monsters from Hamas," he stressed. "No force on earth will be able to stop us from releasing all our hostages and overthrowing the terrorist Hamas regime."

The ICC press office said earlier in the day that Karim Khan, a prosecutor with the International Criminal Court (ICC), had requested to issue arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister of Israel Yoav Gallant. "On the basis of evidence collected and examined by my Office, I have reasonable grounds to believe that Benjamin Netanyahu, the Prime Minister of Israel, and Yoav Gallant, the Minister of Defense of Israel, bear criminal responsibility for… war crimes and crimes against humanity committed on the territory of the State of Palestine (in the Gaza strip) from at least 8 October 2023," the ICC quoted him as saying.

The ICC launched an investigation in Palestinian territories in 2021 to probe into possible war crimes against humanity committed in the Gaza Strip by Israeli forces, Hamas and other armed Palestinian groups. According to Prosecutor Karim Khan, the crimes committed in the course of the current escalation also are within the scope his mandate.

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