Benjamin Netanyahu faces arrest if he enters Britain after an international arrest warrant was issued for him, Downing Street has indicated.
Number 10 refused to explicitly comment on “hypotheticals” but said the UK would follow its “legal obligations”.
It comes after the International Criminal Court issued a warrant for the Israeli prime minister and his former defence minister Yoav Gallant over alleged war crimes in Gaza.
Asked whether Mr Netanyahu would be detained if he arrived on British soil, the Prime Minister’s official spokesman said he could not “talk about specific cases”.
But asked whether the Government would comply with the law, he said: “The UK will always comply with its legal obligations as set out by domestic law and indeed international law.”
Number 10 said that the domestic process linked to ICC arrest warrants has never been used to date by the UK because no one wanted by the international court had visited the country.
Asked whether a secretary of state would comply with requirements under the International Criminal Court Act 2001, Sir Keir Starmer’s spokesman said: “Yes, the Government would fulfil its obligations under the Act and indeed its legal obligations.”
The Act states that the Secretary of State must, on receipt of a request for arrest from the ICC, “transmit the request and the documents accompanying it to an appropriate judicial officer”.
