The Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), Karim Khan, today requested the issuance of arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the leader of Hamas in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar.

Netanyahu and Sinwar are suspected of war crimes and crimes against humanity, according to a statement released by Khan in The Hague, Netherlands, where the ICC is based.

Khan also asked the ICC to issue arrest warrants for Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, Al-Qassam Brigades commander Mohammed Al-Masri, and Hamas political bureau chief Ismail Haniyeh.

The Rome Statute, which established the ICC, states that the court cannot try any accused "in absentia," requiring the individual in question to be physically present in the dock and personally answer the charges against them.

Detention is therefore a precondition for any trial before the ICC.

However, the ICC does not have its own enforcement arm and relies on member states that have signed the Rome Statute, or non-member states that may be willing to cooperate, to carry out arrests.

Currently, 124 countries are party to the Rome Statute, but neither Israel nor the United States, its main international backer, are members.

Furthermore, Benjamin Netanyahu, for example, has not traveled abroad since the Hamas attacks of October 7, 2023.

According to the Spanish news agency Europa Press, the ICC has more than a dozen outstanding arrest warrants, including for individuals linked to crises in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Uganda, Kenya, Libya, Ivory Coast, Sudan's Darfur region, and Ukraine.

In the latter case, Russian President Vladimir Putin is one of the most prominent names on the ICC's "fugitives list."

Putin has been subject to an arrest warrant since March of last year for the "transfer of Ukrainian children" to Russia.

The ICC says that when it issues an arrest warrant, it has "evidence" that the individual in question committed crimes and therefore requests international cooperation.

However, the court has stated that ratification of the Rome Statute is not necessary to proceed with the arrest of a fugitive and has in the past sought the cooperation of non-treaty countries.

On the other hand, although signatories to the Rome Statute are obliged to execute outstanding arrest warrants, it would not be the first time that a country has made concessions: In 2015, South Africa avoided arresting then-Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, arguing that he had immunity because he was attending an African Union summit.

Once detained, the suspect follows a process that initially depends on the institutions of the country where the arrest was made.

Subsequently, the accused must appear before the competent judicial authority, which examines whether or not the laws have been complied with and whether or not surrender to the ICC is possible, in a process that differs from extradition.

Read Also: ICC requests the arrest of Netanyahu and Hamas leaders for war crimes (Portuguese version)