Netanyahu ordered preparation of ICC case against Erdoğan, Israeli report says

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ordered officials to prepare a legal case against Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan for possible submission to the International Criminal Court, according to an exclusive report by i24NEWS on September 27. The Israeli network said an interministerial team and the director of the International Law Department had been instructed to assemble material concerning Turkey’s treatment of Kurds and allegations that Erdoğan’s government funded Hamas. Neither an ICC filing nor an official Israeli announcement of the reported instruction has been confirmed.

The account described the proposed dossier as concentrating chiefly on alleged abuses against Kurdish communities in Turkey, with the Hamas funding allegation also included. These are allegations attributed to the report; the existence of a prepared case and the underlying claims have not been independently established. Netanyahu and Israeli Justice Ministry officials declined to comment when approached by i24NEWS.

The Israeli network linked the reported move partly to an earlier Turkish initiative concerning Netanyahu. It said Erdoğan had approached Interpol about seeking a Red Notice after an Israeli operation involving an activist flotilla headed for Gaza. Its sources portrayed the proposed Israeli dossier as one element in a wider escalation between the two governments, while suggesting that officials hoped it would serve as diplomatic pressure without necessarily being filed at the court.

The reported instruction does not mean the ICC has opened a case against Erdoğan. There is no publicly announced arrest warrant or formal proceeding against him connected with the allegations described by i24NEWS. The report said Israeli officials were considering whether a third country could be involved if they chose to pursue the matter.

Any potential ICC process would face questions about the court’s jurisdiction. Israel and Turkey have not ratified the Rome Statute. Under the court’s rules, jurisdiction may depend on where alleged crimes occurred, the nationality of a suspect, a state’s acceptance of jurisdiction or a United Nations Security Council referral. A third party’s transmission of allegations does not, by itself, establish that the court can prosecute conduct said to have taken place in Turkey.

The development comes days after Erdoğan’s September 22 address to the United Nations General Assembly, in which he renewed his criticism of Israeli operations in Gaza. Netanyahu, speaking at the UN later that week, accused the Turkish leader of hostility toward Israel and referred to Hamas’s presence in Turkey. Those public exchanges are separate from the unconfirmed account of legal preparations.

The ICC has an existing case concerning Netanyahu himself. On November 21, 2024, its judges issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu and former Israeli defence minister Yoav Gallant over alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza. The court said it had reasonable grounds to believe they bore criminal responsibility for the alleged acts. Israel rejects the allegations and contests the court’s jurisdiction.

For now, the specific claim about an instruction to prepare an Erdoğan dossier rests on i24NEWS’s exclusive reporting. The network’s sources said a filing might never follow, and neither the Israeli government nor the ICC has announced one.