What if Netanyah were sentenced by the International Criminal Court

War is erupting in the Middle East as well as in US relations with the JNP, but there may also be consequences in the future for Israel.

Today's “arrest warrants are the result of an independent and impartial investigation by my office,” prosecutor Kaim Khan said in a long statement posted on the International Criminal Court's website.

In view of our obligation to investigate incriminating and excusing evidence, my office has worked diligently to separate claims from facts and to submit prudent conclusions based on evidence”.

The arrest warrant must first be approved by a panel of three judges before it can be implemented.

There is no guarantee that they will agree to issue orders.

“Procurory is not unknown. They wouldn't get involved in this phase in such an important issue that everyone is paying attention to.

So I think the judges will agree to commands”, Iva Vukusic, a legal expert at the University of Utrecht, told Guardian.

The three-member panel will be under great pressure, including from the US and Israel. About 12 senators wrote to Khan earlier this month warning his office.

Netanyahu attacked Khan, calling it a “moral offense of historical proportions”.

Consequences of Orders

What happens if the JNP leaves the orders? If extradited, it would make it difficult to travel the leaders of Israel and Hamas to countries under JNP jurisdiction.

About 124 countries have signed the Rome Status, a treaty urging them to hand over persons under warrants that violate their territory.

Countries under the jurisdiction of the JNP include most of the Western Hemisphere, with the exception of the US and Europe and the Ocean, as well as parts of Africa and Asia.

The move would be especially important for Israeli leaders, who often travel to Western capitals that are under JNP's jurisdiction.

The last world leader for whom an arrest warrant was issued was Russian President Vladimir Putin, who was charged with orchestrating the forced deportation of Ukrainian children. The arrest order forced him to cancel a trip to South Africa in July 2023.

An arrest warrant would have little effect on Hamas' military personnel' ability to travel.

They are believed to be hiding in Gaza.

However, a warrant would be more complicated for Qatar-based Hamas political leader Ismail Haniya, who would have to reconsider meetings with other Arab leaders in the region.

However, Gulf Co-operation Council countries, including Qatar, have not signed the Rome Status.

Khan said in his statement Monday that they could be followed more. His office is investigating charges of sexual violence committed by Hamas and “large-scale bombings that he has caused and continues to cause so many deaths, injuries and civil suffering in Gaza”.

In the event of the condemnation not only of Hamas but of Israel for war crimes and crimes against humanity, the consequences could be multiple. As experts under the Arab network Al Jazeera stress, any sentence will intensify Israel's international isolation, but will also remove the possibility of ending a form of a Middle East settlement agreement, as in the short term, for a ceasefire and long-term resolution of its issue.

According to the magazine T IME, any condemnation of Israeli leadership can strengthen extreme voices within Israel, but also create a greater division in Washington's relations with the JNP, which President Joe Biden has said has no jurisdiction over Israel's dealings with Hamas.