The International Criminal Court (ICC) announced on Thursday that it is pressing ahead with its investigation into crimes committed in Palestinian Arab territories or by Palestinian Arab perpetrators, despite the withdrawal of an arrest warrant for a top Hamas terrorist, Reuters reports.
The announcement comes a day after the ICC confirmed that its judges had revoked the arrest warrant for former Hamas military chief Mohammed Deif, citing credible reports of his death.
The ICC issued an arrest warrant against Deif in November of 2024, at the same time as it issued warrants for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, citing war crimes committed in Gaza.
Despite the dropped warrant against Deif, the ICC prosecutor's office stressed on Thursday that its investigation remains a priority and that it would continue pursuing justice.
"Addressing the situation as an urgent priority, the office is conducting an active investigation, and advances multiple and interconnected additional lines of inquiry," the office stated in an email.
The ICC further asserted that it would not hesitate to seek new arrest warrants "if and when it considers that the threshold of a realistic prospect of conviction has been met."
With the withdrawal of the warrant for Deif, there are currently no known public ICC arrest warrants for any terrorists involved in the October 7 attack.
Similar to Deif’s case, arrest warrants for former Hamas political bureau chief Ismail Haniyeh and the group’s former leader in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar, were withdrawn after they were eliminated by Israel.