CORRECTION - Israeli Premier 'Unnaturally' Worried Over Possible International Arrest Warrant: Local Media

CORRECTS FROM TOP UN COURT IN HEADLINE; CHANGES DECK

By Ekrem Biceroglu and Said Amori

JERUSALEM (AA) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is worried that the International Criminal Court (ICC) might issue a warrant for his and several other senior officials' arrest, local media reported Saturday.

Netanyahu was "unnaturally afraid and worried" due to the possibility of an arrest warrant by the ICC in The Hague, according to the Maariv newspaper, which "ed unnamed sources.

Netanyahu made telephone calls to international leaders and officials in recent days, especially to US President Joe Biden, to prevent the issuance of such an arrest warrant.

"Under my leadership, Israel will never accept any attempt by the ICC to undermine its inherent right of self-defense. The threat to seize the soldiers and officials of the Middle East's only democracy and the world's only Jewish state is outrageous. We will not bow to it," Netanyahu wrote Friday on X.

Israel has waged a brutal offensive on the Gaza Strip since a cross-border attack by the Palestinian group, Hamas, on Oct. 7, which Tel Aviv said killed less than 1,200 people.

Nearly 34,400 Palestinians have since been killed, mostly women and children, and over 77,400 injured amid mass destruction and severe shortages of necessities.

Israel is accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice. An interim ruling in January ordered Tel Aviv to stop genocidal acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.


*Writing by Gozde Bayar -