European Union governments cannot choose whether to execute arrest warrants issued by the International Criminal Court against two senior Israeli leaders and a commander of "Hamas," the EU foreign policy chief said on Saturday, quoted by "Reuters".
The ICC issued the warrants on Thursday against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, his former Defense Minister Yoav Galant and Hamas leader Ibrahim Al-Masri for alleged crimes against humanity.
All EU member states have signed the founding treaty of the ICC, called the Rome Statute.
Several EU countries have said they would honor their commitments under the statute if necessary, but Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán invited Netanyahu to visit his country, assuring him he would not face any risks if he did so.
"States that have signed the Rome Statute are obliged to implement the court's decision," said Josep Borrell, the EU's top diplomat, during a visit to Cyprus for a workshop of Israeli and Palestinian peace activists.
These same obligations are also binding on countries seeking to join the EU, he said.
"It would be very funny for the newcomers to have an obligation that the current members do not fulfill," he told Reuters.
The United States rejected the ICC ruling, and Israel said the ICC move was anti-Semitic.
"Every time someone disagrees with the policies of an Israeli government - they are accused of anti-Semitism,'' said Borrell, whose term as the EU's foreign policy chief ends this month.
"I have the right to criticize the decisions of the Israeli government, be it Mr. Netanyahu or anyone else, without being accused of anti-Semitism. This is not acceptable."
Israel's 13-month campaign in Gaza has killed an estimated 44,000 Palestinians and displaced nearly the enclave's entire population while creating a humanitarian crisis, Gaza officials say.
Israel launched its offensive after a Hamas-led attack on October 7, 2023, that killed 1,200 people in southern Israel and took more than 250 others hostage, Israel said.
In their ruling, the ICC judges said there were reasonable grounds to believe that Netanyahu and Galant were responsible for acts including murder, persecution and the infliction of starvation as a weapon of war as part of a "widespread and systematic attack against the civilian population of Gaza".
The warrant for Masri contains allegations of mass killings during the October 7, 2023, attacks. Israel claims to have killed Masri.