Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has instructed an inter-ministerial team and the head of the Justice Ministry's international law department to prepare a legal case against Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Israeli media outlet i24NEWS first reported the order on September 27.

The dossier will focus on Turkey's treatment of Kurds and alleged Turkish links to Hamas. According to the reports, Israel may try to file a complaint with the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague, or use a third country to file it. The ICC is the world court that tries people accused of war crimes.

Israel hopes it will not actually need to file the case. Sources said the goal is to use the threat of a case as leverage against Erdogan, in effect as a deterrent. Netanyahu's office and Justice Ministry officials declined to comment on the reports.

Neither Israel nor Turkey is a member of the ICC, so the court's authority over such a case would be disputed. The move comes after Erdogan asked Interpol to issue a Red Notice against Netanyahu over an Istanbul court probe into the Gaza aid convoy incident.