US activists urge ICC to issue arrest warrants for Trump and Rubio over Gaza

Members of a grassroots organization and international human rights lawyers on Wednesday formally asked the International Criminal Court (ICC) to investigate President Donald Trump, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and other senior US officials for "aiding and abetting genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by Israel in Gaza.” The Taxpayer Alliance Against Genocide (TAAG) said in a statement that it gave the ICC Office of the Prosecutor in The Hague “sworn affidavits” from doctors who worked in Gaza, eyewitness accounts, whistleblower testimony, video evidence and documents on US military, financial, diplomatic and political support for Israel.​​​​​​​ “International law remains the last peaceful instrument we possess to confront injustice and pave the way forward,” Francesca Albanese, the UN special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories, told a press conference in The Hague after the submission.

“The legal tools are there,” she said. “What is missing is the political courage to use them.” The submission also includes testimony from Dr. Feroze Sidhwa, a US trauma surgeon who has worked in Gaza twice, and from David McIntosh, a former manager at the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, the group said. “No more impunity for those who finance, arm, aid and abet genocide. No government official is above international law,” the delegation said.

The ICC has not ruled on the allegations. A submission to the prosecutor does not mean the court will open an investigation or seek warrants. The US is not a party to the Rome Statute, which created the ICC, and rejects the court’s jurisdiction over American and Israeli nationals. Israel has rejected accusations of genocide in Gaza. In November 2024, the court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant over their actions in Gaza, including using starvation as a method of warfare.

In July, Rubio said the administration would “dismantle” the court, “brick by brick, if necessary.” Washington has sanctioned ICC judges and prosecutors as well as Albanese over what it called “illegitimate and baseless” actions targeting the US and Israel. Since October 2023, Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza has killed more than 74,600 Palestinians and wounded nearly 176,000, mostly women and children, while destroying 90% of the territory’s infrastructure.