Israeli officials are increasingly concerned that the International Criminal Court - ICC - is planning to seek arrest warrants for their military and political leaders on suspicion of war crimes. Reports suggest Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu could be among them. The ICC has been investigating Israel's actions in the occupied territories for the past three years and recently the war in Gaza where Israel's retaliatory bombardment has killed more than 34,000 Palestinians. The ICC is also investigating the actions of Hamas for the October 7 attacks in which Hamas-led gunmen killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and seized 253 hostages. Netanyahu has called the prospect of senior Israel figures joining the wanted list "an outrage of historic proportions", accusing the ICC of attempting to paralyse Israel's ability to defend itself. Many analysts say the fact that Netanyahu has chosen to make such harsh public comments suggests that, behind the scenes, such a scenario is being actively discussed. The ICC has previously issued arrest warrants for leaders including Russia's Vladimir Putin, Muammar Gaddafi of Libya and Omar Al Bashir of Sudan. For more on this Bongiwe Zwane spoke to Anthoni Van Nieuwkerk, Professor of International Relations at the Thabo Mbeki African School of Public and International Affairs.