Hungary on Thursday announced its intention to withdraw from the founding treaty of the International Criminal Court (ICC) during a state visit by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

State news agency MTI reported the news shortly after Netanyahu arrived in Budapest.

The ICC issued an arrest warrant against Netanyahu in November over charges of war crimes in Gaza.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said he would not enforce it and invited Netanyahu for the state visit in response.

Orban's chief of staff Gergely Gulyas told MTI that the government is due to start the withdrawal process later on Thursday.

Orban, a right-wing nationalist, is an ally and supporter of the Netanyahu government. When U.S. President Donald Trump sanctioned the court's prosecutor Karim Khan in February, Orban said Hungary should review its relationship with the court.

All 125 states that are party to the statute, including all EU countries, are under a legal obligation to arrest and surrender Netanyahu to The Hague-based court. 

The decision to withdraw does not immediately remove Hungary's legal obligation to arrest and surrender Netanyahu to the ICC.

Under article 127 of the Rome Statute, Hungary would need to send a written notification to the United Nations secretary general to leave the treaty, then the withdrawal would take effect one year after the receipt of the notice. 

Hungary was among the first countries that ratified the Rome Statute, the treaty that established the ICC in 2002. 

When withdrawal takes effect, it will become the first EU country to pull out of the treaty.

The visit marks Netanyahu’s first trip to an ICC member state since the court issued arrest warrants for him and his former defense minister, Yoav Gallant, on 21 November. 

It was the first instance in the court's 22-year history that it has issued arrest warrants for Western-allied senior officials.

Maxime Prevot, Belgium’s foreign minister, denounced Hungary’s decision as “deeply regrettable.”

“This is a significant setback for international justice and the fight against impunity for the most serious crimes, including genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and the crime of aggression,” he wrote on X.

“It paves the way for a world where might makes right.”

On Wednesday, the ICC’s spokesperson Fadi El-Abdallah denounced Hungary’s non-compliance with the court’s decision.

“This is not only a legal obligation to the court under the Rome Statute, it is also a responsibility towards other states parties,” he told Middle East Eye. 

“When states have concerns in cooperating with the court, they may consult the court in a timely and efficient manner,” El-Abdallah said. “However, it is not for states to unilaterally determine the soundness of the court’s legal decisions.”

Netanyahu has appeared to limit his international travel since the ICC’s arrest warrants were issued five months ago.

His only trip so far has been to Washington in February upon an invitation by Trump. 

Under Netanyahu's government, Israel has faced accusations of war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity.

Israel's war on Gaza has killed more than 50,000 Palestinians, forcibly displaced most of the 2.4 million population, and made the enclave largely uninhabitable.