U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday authorized economic and travel sanctions targeting people who work on International Criminal Court investigations of U.S. citizens or U.S. allies such as Israel, repeating action he took during his first term.
ICC condemned the sanctions on Friday and called on its 125 member states to support its staff.
“The court stands firmly by its personnel and pledges to continue providing justice and hope to millions of innocent victims of atrocities across the world, in all situations before it,” it said in a statement.
Trump’s move coincided with a visit to Washington by Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who along with his former defense minister and a leader of Palestinian militant group Hamas – is wanted by the ICC over the war in the Gaza Strip.
It was unclear how quickly the U.S. would announce names of people sanctioned.
During the first Trump administration in 2020, Washington imposed sanctions on then-prosecutor Fatou Bensouda and one of her top aides over the ICC’s investigation into alleged war crimes by American troops in Afghanistan.
