THE HAGUE — Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said he had been informed that the International Criminal Court in The Hague had requested a warrant for his arrest, describing the move as a declaration of war. Smotrich did not specify who had told him about the warrant the previous evening.

"And in the face of a declaration of war, we will fight back with a vengeance." Smotrich also described the Palestinian Authority as a terrorist organisation.

The process of seeking arrest warrants at the ICC is confidential. The accusations against Smotrich reportedly centre on his forced displacement orders for Palestinians, his support for moving Israeli settlers into occupied territory, and his claim that it may be justified and moral to starve Palestinians in Gaza.

If approved, the arrest warrant request would make Smotrich the third Israeli official targeted by the ICC. The court issued arrest warrants for Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant in November 2024 for crimes against humanity and war crimes committed during Israel's war on Gaza. The court also issued arrest warrants for several Hamas leaders who were subsequently killed in Israeli operations.

The United Kingdom and four other countries imposed sanctions last year on Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir, accusing them of repeatedly inciting violence against Palestinians in the West Bank. Smotrich has called for the permanent conquest of Gaza and for the re-establishment of Jewish settlements in Gaza that Israel had abandoned in 2005.

Judges and prosecutors at the ICC have been cut off by banks, credit card companies and technology companies including Amazon as a result of sanctions brought by the Trump administration. The ICC warrant request against Smotrich, if approved, would follow those issued against Netanyahu and Gallant in November 2024.