Labour must drop challenge over Netanyahu arrest warrant, says human rights chief

The first pro-Palestine March in London after the election of the Labour government under Keir Starmer, 6 July. Photograph: Antonio Olmos/The Observer

The new UK government must withdraw Rishi Sunak’s legal challenge to the international criminal court’s jurisdiction over alleged war crimes committed by Israel in Gaza, the UK director of Human Rights Watch (HRW) has said.

Yasmine Ahmed said that it is “absolutely critical” that the UK does not continue to challenge the right of the ICC to seek arrest warrants for the Israeli prime minster, Benjamin Netanyahu, and defence minister, Yoav Gallant, who the court’s chief prosecutor, Karim Khan, believes could bear responsibility for crimes against humanity.