Prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu could be detained if he visits Britain after Sir Keir Starmer backed the International Criminal Court’s decision to issue an arrest warrant. 

The Hague-based court, which Foreign Secretary David Lammy last month said the UK ‘supports’, today issued warrants for Netanyahu and his former defence minister Yoav Gallant, as well as the leader of Hamas.

Britain, along with 123 other members of the ICC, will now be obliged to detain Netanyahu ‘on sight’ under international law.

A spokesperson for Downing Street said the Government respected the court and refused to rule out he would be arrested if he landed on British soil – comments which have been widely interpreted as supportive of the decision. 

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He said: ‘We respect the independence of the ICC.’

Starmer added there was no ‘moral equivalence’ between the democratically elected leader of Israel and terrorist leaders, and that Israel has a right to defend itself. 

The ICC warrant would, nevertheless, need to be ratified by a UK court before it becomes valid, it is understood.