The Office of the Prosecutor (OTP) of the International Criminal Court (ICC) released on Saturday a statement regarding unspecified threats towards the office and its officials, calling for such attempts to impede or influence its investigations to “cease immediately.”

The OTP is an independent organ of the ICC, and its mandate involves “examining situations under the jurisdiction of the Court where genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and aggression appear to have been committed, and carrying out investigations and prosecutions against the individuals who are allegedly most responsible for those crimes.” The OTP emphasized its impartiality and independence and insisted that threats to impede its investigations or influence its officials are a direct attack on these core principles of its existence.

Further, the OTP added that such threats and actions constitute an offense against the administration of justice under the Rome Statute of 1998, which established the ICC and its constituent parts and functions in detail. Section 70 of the Rome Statute lists various acts that constitute an offense against the administration of justice, including “impeding, intimidating or corruptly influencing an official of the Court for the purpose of forcing or persuading the official not to perform, or to perform improperly, his or her duties” and “retaliating against an official of the Court on account of duties performed by that or another official.” Such offenses come under the jurisdiction of the ICC itself. To this end, the OTP signaled a potential counter-action against such threats unless they cease immediately.

Though the OTP did not specify which particular threats it has received, its recent statement follows Israel’s protest against possible arrest warrants of senior Israeli officials for alleged war crimes in Gaza. On Tuesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that the warrants would be an “outrage of historic proportions.” Nonetheless, the OTP stated that it remains committed to an impartial and independent investigation against those suspected of committing war crimes and calls for the end of any forces that could undermine that.