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Israeli far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir attacked the International Criminal Court (ICC) late Monday and vowed to continue escalating against Palestinians after reports said the court is considering issuing an arrest warrant against him.
"I am not afraid and not deterred. No order from The Hague will deter me from continuing to lead an offensive policy against terrorists," Ben-Gvir said in a statement on X.
"I'm sorry to disappoint those 'justice seekers,' I won't apologize, I won't blink, and I won't stop," he added.
Middle East Eye (MEE) reported that the ICC prosecutor's office filed a sealed arrest warrant application for Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich last month over war crimes and crimes against humanity against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, citing sources briefed on the matter. The application was filed on April 2, according to MEE.
The outlet said charges against Smotrich include forced displacement as a war crime and crime against humanity, the transfer of Israel's own population as a war crime, and persecution and apartheid as crimes against humanity.
Middle East Eye also reported that an evidence review took place last Wednesday to examine the possibility of a separate warrant application for Ben-Gvir, but that it had not yet been filed.
The report said some claims made by the Israeli media that the prosecutor's office had filed five applications for Israeli officials were inaccurate.
When asked for comment, a spokesperson for the ICC prosecutor's office did not deny that an application for Smotrich had been filed, citing court regulations amended in November stipulating that arrest warrant applications are classified as secret unless authorized otherwise by judges.
"For this reason, the Office of the Prosecutor of the ICC is unable to comment on questions related to any alleged application for a warrant of arrest," the spokesperson said.
Palestinian and international rights groups have increasingly called for arrest warrants against Ben-Gvir, citing his repeated inciting remarks against Palestinian prisoners and his push for legislation in the Knesset to execute prisoners.
In a letter to the ICC's deputy prosecutors in March, seen by the MEE, Palestine's mission to The Hague outlined further evidence of alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity by settlers and Israeli occupation forces.
"The urgency to take action now cannot be overstated in any way, with the erasure and the destruction of the Palestinian people, as manifested by an illegal occupant, materializing by the day," the letter read.
Both ministers live in West Bank settlements considered illegal under international law and have championed annexation of the territory and the return of Israeli settlers to Gaza. Since June last year, the U.K., Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Norway imposed coordinated sanctions on the pair, freezing assets and barring entry.
U.K. Foreign Secretary David Lammy said the ministers had "incited extremist violence and serious abuses of Palestinian human rights."
Slovenia became the first European Union member to declare both ministers persona non grata in July, with the Netherlands, Belgium and Spain subsequently imposing their own travel restrictions. A Dutch ban extends across the 29-country Schengen Area.
An EU-level sanctions proposal has remained stalled for nearly two years after Germany, Italy, Austria, the Czech Republic and Hungary blocked inclusion of the two ministers in a May 11 foreign affairs council agreement.
In November 2024, the ICC issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former defense minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza. If judges approve a warrant for Smotrich, he would become the third Israeli official wanted by the court.
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Backed by the United States, Israel launched a war on Gaza on Oct. 8, 2023.
The offensive has killed more than 72,000 Palestinians and wounded over 172,000 others, most of them women and children, while destroying 90% of civilian infrastructure.
Since then, Israeli army and settler attacks in the occupied West Bank have killed 1,162 Palestinians, injured around 12,245 others and led to nearly 23,000 arrests, according to official Palestinian figures.
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