The ICC issued arrest warrants last Thursday for Netanyahu, his former defence chief, and Hamas military leader Ibrahim Al-Masri, known as Mohammed Deif, for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Gaza conflict.

Israel is to lodge an appeal against the arrest warrants for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former defence minister Yoav Gallant issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague, Netanyahu's office said on Wednesday.

The slow, often grinding machinery of international law has just received a push along with the issuing of three arrest warrants by the International