Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed that Israel "will not let Israel Defense Forces (IDF) soldiers and officers be dragged to the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague."
The comments come in response to the Palestinian move to join the ICC, which Netanyahu said signified the Palestinian Authority's choosing "to take a path of confrontation with Israel."
Israel has frozen transfer of $127million (USD) in tax revenues to the Palestinian Authority, commencing a series of punitive steps after Palestine formally submitted its application to join the ICC on Friday, drawing criticism from the United States as well as Israel.
Netanyahu further stated that the Palestinian Authority should be tried before the ICC for signing a "covenant with the war criminals of Hamas", referring to a reconciliation agreement signed in 2014 which helped to establish a national consensus government.