Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu applauded Hungary for its "bold and principled" decision to leave the International Criminal Court as he visited Budapest on Thursday, a rare trip abroad in defiance of an ICC arrest warrant.

Netanyahu, invited by Hungary's rightwing Prime Minister Viktor Orban, faces the ICC arrest warrant over allegations of war crimes in Gaza as Israel has expanded its military operation in the Palestinian enclave.

Hungary has rejected the idea of arresting the Israeli prime minister and has called the warrant "brazen."