Photo by Roel Wijnants (CC BY-NC 2.0)

On December 15, 2025, the Appeals Chamber of the International Criminal Court (ICC), by majority, confirmed Pre-Trial Chamber I’s decision rejecting Israel’s request for an order requiring the Prosecutor to issue a new notification under Article 18(1) of the Rome Statute in the Situation in the State of Palestine.

The appeal was submitted by Israel, as a challenge to the Prosecutor’s ongoing investigation. Israel argued that the events following October 7, 2023, together with referrals submitted by seven state parties in 2023 and 2024, triggered a new situation or, alternatively, constituted a substantial change in the parameters of the existing investigation. According to Israel, either argument required the Prosecutor to issue a new Article 18(1) notification, which would have reopened the possibility of deferral under Article 18(2) of the Rome Statute.

The Appeals Chamber rejected Israel’s arguments. It held that the investigation into alleged crimes committed after October 7, 2023 fell within the scope of the existing Palestine situation, which originated in a 2018 referral by the State of Palestine and has been under investigation since March 2021. The Chamber found that armed conflict constituted a defining parameter of both the original referral and the Article 18(1) notification, and that the post–October 7 events did not alter the legal and factual parameters of the investigation. The Appeals Chamber further concluded that the 2023 and 2024 referrals did not trigger a new situation, but instead are related to the ongoing investigation.