The new British Labour government intends to withdraw the reservation submitted by the previous Conservative government to the International Criminal Court in The Hague, against the request to issue international arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Galant, on suspicion of committing war crimes and crimes against humanity during the war on Gaza.

The New York Times quoted two sources today, Thursday, as saying that the new British government will withdraw the reservation submitted by the previous government until the end of this week.

The newspaper pointed out that for ten months, the Conservative government worked in close coordination with the United States on everything related to policy towards the war on Gaza, while now, under the leadership of the new government, "the United Kingdom is moving away from the American position on this matter."

The Labour government announced last week that it would resume funding for UNRWA, after concluding that the UN agency had taken steps to ensure it met the "highest standards of neutrality".

Western countries have halted funding to UNRWA after Israeli allegations that "dozens" of UNRWA employees took part in the "Al-Aqsa Flood" attack launched by Hamas on October 7.

It is noteworthy that the current British Prime Minister, Keir Starmer, is a lawyer and expert in international law and human rights.

The Israeli government expressed its great satisfaction with the decision of the Conservative government headed by Rishi Sunak to submit a reservation regarding the request of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Karim Khan, to issue international arrest warrants against Netanyahu and Galant.

At the end of last June, the International Criminal Court decided that Britain could present legal arguments to judges considering the request to issue arrest warrants against Netanyahu and Galant.

Britain asked the judges earlier that month to submit written observations on whether “the court can exercise its jurisdiction over Israeli nationals in circumstances where Palestine cannot exercise criminal jurisdiction over Israeli nationals (under) the Oslo Accords.”

The judges said the court would also accept applications from other interested parties, setting a July 12 deadline for them to be submitted. Accepting Britain’s request would have delayed a decision on whether to issue arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Galant.