In a significant legal blow to Israel's efforts to evade accountability, appeals judges at the International Criminal Court have rejected a key Israeli challenge, ensuring the court's investigation into alleged war crimes in Gaza will continue and that arrest warrants for Israeli leaders remain in place. This ruling, issued on Monday, reaffirms the court's jurisdiction over events following the October 7, 2023, attacks and underscores the mounting international legal pressure on the Israeli government for its conduct during the war.
The decision by the ICC's appeals chamber dismissed Israel's argument that prosecutors needed to issue a fresh notification to investigate events after October 7, 2023. The judges ruled that the original notification from 2021, when the court opened its investigation into the situation in Palestine, was sufficient. This clears the way for the ongoing probe that last year led to the issuance of arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant. The warrants allege they bear criminal responsibility for war crimes and crimes against humanity, including the war crime of starvation as a method of warfare and the crimes against humanity of murder and persecution.
Israel, which is not a member of the ICC, has consistently rejected the court's jurisdiction and denied committing war crimes. Its foreign ministry criticized the latest ruling as an example of the court disregarding the sovereign rights of non-member states. The ruling deals specifically with one of several legal challenges Israel has filed; there is no timeline for the court to rule on the remaining appeals. The ICC had also issued a warrant for Hamas military commander Mohammed Deif, but withdrew it following credible reports of his death.
As the legal battle unfolds in The Hague, a parallel crisis is intensifying on the ground in the occupied West Bank. Israeli authorities have issued orders to demolish 25 residential buildings in the Nur Shams refugee camp, a move that will impact approximately 100 family homes and is scheduled to begin on Thursday, December 18.
UN and Palestinian officials have condemned the planned demolitions as part of a broader, devastating pattern. Roland Friedrich, Director of UNRWA Affairs for the occupied West Bank, stated the order is "more devastating news" and fits a pattern of destroying homes to enable long-term Israeli control over camps in the northern West Bank, permanently altering their geography. He noted that satellite imagery shows nearly half of all buildings in Nur Shams had already been damaged or destroyed prior to this latest order.
This action is part of "Operation Iron Wall," a large-scale Israeli military campaign launched in January 2025 that has targeted refugee camps in the northern West Bank, including Nur Shams, Tulkarem, and Jenin. The operation has resulted in the forced displacement of more than 32,000 Palestinian refugees, many of whom have been unable to return to their homes for nearly a year. Residents like Aisha Dama, whose four-story family home housing about 30 people is slated for demolition, describe feeling abandoned: "On the day it happened, no one checked on us or asked about us".
The ICC's reaffirmation of its investigative path and the imminent demolitions in the West Bank highlight two fronts in the ongoing struggle over accountability and Palestinian rights. While the court pursues legal avenues for alleged crimes during the Gaza war, actions on the ground in the West Bank continue to cause widespread displacement and destruction, deepening the humanitarian crisis faced by Palestinians under occupation.