His decision that the ICC “has jurisdiction over Israeli, Palestinian or other nationals who committed crimes in Gaza or the West Bank” was supported by a panel of international legal experts, including several from the UK.

In 2021, a deeply divided pre-trial chamber concluded that the court’s jurisdiction extended to Gaza. But the UK says the ruling did not decide jurisdictional issues relating to the Oslo accords.

The UK argues that the chamber must now make an initial decision on jurisdiction to issue arrest warrants “of which the Oslo accords issue necessarily forms part”.

Other states will also be allowed to submit observations by July 12. Mr Khan, the prosecutor, is then expected to respond.

Denial of humanitarian aid

Mr Khan announced in May that he was seeking arrest warrants for Mr Netanyahu and Mr Gallant due to suspected crimes of “causing extermination, causing starvation as a method of war including the denial of humanitarian relief supplies [and] deliberately targeting civilians in conflict”.

His decision was fiercely criticised by Israel, the US and others. They argued that Israel’s independent judiciary and legal system was capable of investigating any criminal wrongdoing during the ongoing Gaza war, and that the prosecutor had not allowed enough time to Israel to do so.

Critics also argued that Mr Khan had not engaged with Israel to understand what steps it might have taken, or was currently taking, to investigate possible criminal actions during the war.

They said this contrasted with his attitude in other investigations such as against Caracas where he has engaged with the dictatorial regime of Nicolas Maduro.