On Thursday, ICC judges issued arrest warrants for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for alleged war crimes in Gaza.

These include starvation of civilians as a method of warfare, murder, intentionally directing attacks against a civilian population, and extermination.

Last week, Tsahkna said he was "skeptical" about the role of arrest warrants in achieving lasting peace in the Middle East.

At a joint press conference (watch below) on Tuesday with Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis, the pair both agreed member states cannot selectively enforce rulings.

Landsbergis made a connection with the arrest warrant also issued by the ICC for Russian President Vladimir Putin.

"When certain countries that are part of the ICC treaty announce that they are going to invite Mr. Putin and that somehow the decisions made by the court do not apply to them, or they can find a way around them, we criticize those countries. We criticize because we believe that by doing so they [weaken] the international rules-based order," he said.

"Therefore, my strong belief is that /.../ if I want the rules-based international order to hold, I'm in no position to pick and choose which ruling I like and which rulings I don't like. If I want Putin to be arrested because of the ICC decision when he travels, when he tries to travel, that means I am in no position to pick and choose," Landsbergis added.

Tsahkna agreed, adding international law and a rules-based world order is an existential issue for Estonia.

"President Lennart Meri thought that for small countries international law is a nuclear weapon. So it is very important and we all applauded, we all stood up when ICC gave the arrest warrant to Putin and it was the right thing to do," the minister said.

"Let's not put Putin and Netanyahu in the same basket, they are totally different cases. But my message is that the court is independent. We cannot step in politically," he added.

The ICC's case is connected to October 7, 2023, when Hamas gunmen killed approximately 1,200 people after attacking a music festival in southern Israel. Over 200 people were taken hostage.

Israel responded by launching a military campaign to eliminate Hamas in Gaza. The territory's Hamas-run health ministry says at least 44,000 people have been killed.

The ICC said there are reasonable grounds to believe Netanyahu and Gallant, who was replaced as defense minister earlier this month, both bear criminal responsibility, the BBC reported.

Despite the warrants, Netanyahu and Gallant do not face any immediate threat of prosecution. It could make it difficult for them to travel abroad because if either of them set foot in any of the ICC's 124 member states they should be arrested and handed over to the court.

However, ICC members do not always choose to enforce warrants. For example, Mongolia did not arrest Putin when he visited earlier this year.

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