The International Criminal Court (ICC) is anticipated to approve Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan’s request to issue arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant within the next two weeks, as reported by Israel’s Channel 14 News.

The report indicates that Israel had been counting on the former Conservative government in Britain to challenge the ICC’s jurisdiction over Gaza and Israel to prevent the issuance of the warrants. However, with the new Labour government in power, there are conflicting reports about whether this challenge will proceed. According to the Guardian, Labour Party officials have stated that they accept the ICC’s jurisdiction in this case.

Khan told CNN that the charges against Sinwar, Haniyeh, and al-Masri include “extermination, murder, taking of hostages, rape, and sexual assault in detention.” Regarding the Israeli officials, Khan mentioned charges such as “causing extermination, causing starvation as a method of war, including the denial of humanitarian relief supplies, and deliberately targeting civilians in conflict.”

Khan’s claim that Israel was using starvation as a method of war was based on reports of famine in Gaza, which were later revealed to be false or exaggerated, as found in the latest report by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) in late June.

Khan’s announcement faced criticism in Israel for seemingly equating Israeli leaders with the leaders of the Hamas terrorist organization, for overlooking Israel’s robust judiciary, and for targeting a nation over which the ICC purportedly lacks jurisdiction. The US and Britain also criticized the decision on similar grounds.

Earlier this month, it was revealed that Khan had canceled a fact-finding mission to Israel, which was intended to gather evidence for the case, on the same day he announced his intent to seek the warrants.