THE HAGUE (Reuters) – The International Criminal Court (ICC) on Friday announced it would replace on health grounds one of the judges deciding on a prosecution request to issue an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a move that could spark further delays in the case.
In May prosecutors asked for warrants for Netanyahu and his Defence Minister Yoav Gallant as well as three Hamas leaders, saying there were reasonable grounds that the men had committed war crimes and crimes against humanity.
The president of the ICC said the presiding judge in the case, Romanian magistrate Iulia Motoc, had asked to be replaced on health grounds on Friday and was immediately replaced with Slovenian ICC judge Beti Hohler.
The replacement is expected to further delay a decision on possible warrants in the case looking at the Gaza conflict as the new judge will need time to catch up on the filings.
(Reporting by Stephanie van den Berg and Bart Meijer; Editing by Toby Chopra)
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