Hungary announces plans to leave ICC as Netanyahu visits

Hundreds of thousands of people in Gaza fled for shelter in one of the biggest mass displacements of the war.

It all comes as Israeli forces advanced into the ruins of the city of Rafah, part of the newly announced "security zone" the Israeli military is establishing.

Israel ordered residents to evacuate the communities of Shujaiya, Jadida, Turkomen and eastern Zeytoun, warning that the army "will work with extreme force" in those areas.

Hundreds of Shujaiya residents were seen streaming out, some carrying their belongings as they walked, others on donkey carts and bikes or in vans.

The Israeli army urged civilians to move to shelters west of Gaza City.

As part of seizing the new "security zone," Israeli forces pushed into Rafah, on Gaza's border to Egypt, a place that had served as a last refuge for people fleeing other parts of the Gaza Strip for much of the war.

According to Reuters news agency, Rafah residents said most of the local population has followed Israel's order to leave, as Israeli strikes destroyed buildings there.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his Hungarian counterpart Viktor Orban spoke with US President Donald Trump about Hungary's decision to withdraw from the International Criminal Court (ICC), Netanyahu's office said.

"The discussion centered on Hungary's decision to leave the International Criminal Court and the next steps that can be taken on this issue," the Israeli leader's office said in a statement.

Earlier in the day, Hungary announced it would begin the process of withdrawing from the ICC, shortly after Orban met with Netanyahu in Budapest despite an international arrest warrant issued by the ICC last November.

The ICC governing body expressed regret and concern over Hungary's announcement, saying any withdrawal harmed a "shared quest for justice."

The Israeli military said it was launching an investigation into an attack on ambulances in Gaza that killed 15 medics and humanitarian aid workers late last month.

"The incident from March 23, 2025, in which IDF (military) forces opened fire targeting terrorists advancing in ambulances, has been transferred to the General Staff's fact-finding and assessment mechanism for investigation," military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Nadav Shoshani said in a statement.

Shoshani added that an "external ... figure" would be conducting the investigation.

The United Nations, as well as the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, has condemned what they called a direct assault on first responders.

"The secretary-general is shocked by the attacks of the Israeli army on a medical and emergency convoy on March 23 resulting in the killings of 15 medical personnel and humanitarian workers in Gaza," said Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.

Throughout its war against Hamas in Gaza, Israel has routinely said it would investigate claims of alleged war crimes, most of which are dismissed with what activists have decried as a lack of transparency.

Hungary will begin the process of withdrawing from the International Criminal Court on Thursday, Minister of the Chancellery Gergely Gulyas told the state news agency MTI.

The news came shortly after Prime Minister Orban welcomed his Israeli counterpart in spite of an international arrest warrant issued by the ICC last November.

Orban has decried the arrest warrant, which relates to the tens of thousands of civilian deaths in Gaza, as politically motivated. He invited Netanyahu soon after the warrant was issued.

The court had sought to remind Hungary of its commitments to honor the decree, but Orban made it clear he would not comply.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said on Thursday that he didn't think Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would be arrested if he came to Germany.

"I can't imagine that there will be an arrest in Germany," he said during a press conference with Jordanian King Abdullah II.

His comments came as Netanyahu arrived in Hungary.

The International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant for Netanyahu over allegations of war crimes in Gaza. Hungary invited Netanyahu the day after the warrant was issued, saying it would not carry out what the court says is a legal obligation.

Both Hungary and Germany are members of the ICC and are called upon to enforce the arrest warrants it issues. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, on Thursday, however, said he would withdraw Hungary from the court. 

German conservative leader and likely future chancellor Friedrich Merz has already said he would seek a way to invite Netanyahu to Berlin without contravening international law.

Scholz also called for an end to the renewed blockade of Gaza by Israel and stressed the importance of returning to a ceasefire.

"No humanitarian aid has reached Gaza for a month," he said. "This cannot and must not continue."

"What is needed now is a return to the ceasefire and the release of all hostages," Scholz said, urging a return to "serious negotiations with the aim of agreeing a post-war order for Gaza that protects Israel's security."

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock has called Hungary's decision to withdraw from the International Criminal Court (ICC) a "bad day for international criminal law."

Baerbock, who is remaining in her role in a caretaker capacity until a new government is officially agreed upon, was speaking on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Brussels on Thursday.

The German minister added that the EU has "clear rules that apply to all EU members, and that is the Rome Statute," referring to the founding document of the ICC.

The EU has been a major supporter of the ICC and all 27 EU members are signatories.

Following a major Israeli attack on a series of targets in Syria, that included strikes on military facilities as well as a raid in the south of the country, Defense Minister Israel Katz warned Damascus against threatening Israel's security.

"I warn Syrian leader Jolani: If you allow hostile forces to enter Syria and threaten Israeli security interests, you will pay a heavy price," Katz said in a statement, referring to Syrian leader Ahmed al-Sharaa by his nom de guerre Abu Mohammed al-Jolani.

"The Air Force's activity yesterday near the airports in T4, Hama, and the Damascus area sends a clear message and serves as a warning for the future," Katz said.

Local Syrian officials, as well as a war monitor, said that Wednesday's attacks killed nine people. Israel said it was responding to fire from militants.

The defense minister also said Israel forces "will continue to operate on the summit of Mount Hermon and in security and buffer zones to protect."

Shortly after rebels overthrew Syrian dictator Bashar Assad in December, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered Israeli troops to enter the UN-patrolled buffer zone between the parts of the Syrian Golan Heights illegally occupied by Israel and the rest of the parts under Syrian control.

As a welcome gift to Netanyahu shortly after his arrival for a state visit, Hungarian Prime Minister Orban announced that he would be removing Hungary from the International Criminal Court (ICC).

The move comes as no surprise after Orban sought to directly defy the court by sending Netanyahu an invite the day after the ICC issued an arrest warrant for the Israeli prime minister over alleged war crimes in Gaza.

Israel has rejected the ICC allegations as antisemitic.

Netanyahu met with Hungary's Orban on Thursday in a show of support. Orban has himself been repeatedly accused of antisemitism, famously having used antisemitic conspiracy theories about Hungarian Holocaust survivor George Soros in election campaigns.

It is obligatory for any ICC member to carry out an arrest warrant, however, Hungarian lawmakers have said that although the country signed the ICC's founding document in 1999 and ratified it in 2001, it was never made part of Hungarian law.

It is expected that the Hungarian parliament, dominated by Orban's Fidesz party, will pass the bill to begin the year-long process of withdrawing from the ICC.

Syria on Thursday condemned deadly Israeli strikes across the country as "a blatant violation of international law and Syrian sovereignty."

"This unjustified escalation is a deliberate attempt to destabilize Syria and exacerbate the suffering of its people," the Syrian Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Telegram.

On Wednesday, Israel had launched airstrikes on military targets in Syria, hitting bases in Damascus, Hama, and Homs, the Israeli military said.

The strikes reportedly destroyed Hama's military airport and injured dozens of civilians and soldiers, according to the Syrian Foreign Ministry. 

Israel stated it targeted military infrastructure to prevent weapons from falling into the hands of the new Islamist authorities.

Since the fall of former President Bashar Assad and a new Islamist-led leadership coming into power in Syria, Israel has increased strikes on Syria, focusing on military bases and weapons facilities.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrived in Budapest on Thursday, marking his first visit to Europe since 2023 despite an International Criminal Court (ICC) arrest warrant against him.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban invited Netanyahu last November, promising Hungary would not enforce the ICC arrest warrant, which he called politically motivated. 

The ICC issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, accusing them of crimes against humanity and war crimes, including using starvation as a weapon towards Palestinians in Israel's war against Hamas in Gaza.

Hamas is recognized as a terrorist organization by the US, the EU, and Israel, among others.

Hungary's Defense Minister Kristof Szalay-Bobrovniczky received Netanyahu at the airport with military honors.

A joint press conference with Orban is expected at 12:30 p.m. (1030 GMT).

Orban is expected to back Netanyahu on US President Donald Trump's plan to relocate Palestinians from Gaza. That plan has been criticized by UN experts as ethnic cleansing.

Experts say Netanyahu is strategically visiting countries where he faces no risk of arrest, aiming to gradually normalize his international travel.

In February, Germany's chancellor-in-waiting Friedrich Merz said he will find "ways and means" for Netanyahu to visit Germany.

Welcome to DW's updates on the situation in Gaza and in the wider Middle East.

On Thursday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrived in Budapest, marking his first visit to Europe since 2023, in defiance of an International Criminal Court (ICC) arrest warrant against him.

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