The spokesperson for the US State Department said Wednesday that the Obama administration does not consider the Palestinians eligible to join the International Criminal Court, as Palestine is not a sovereign state.

In a press briefing, Jen Psaki clarified the Washington’s position on Palestinian moves for membership in the ICC.

“The United States does not believe that the state of Palestine qualifies as a sovereign state and does not recognize it as such and does not believe that it is eligible to accede to the Rome Statute,” Psaki said. She noted that there are “legal aspects” to the issue that needed to be looked at.

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The Palestinian Authority began filing paperwork at the United Nations to join the ICC last month, and UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon accepted the request earlier on Wednesday.

UN approval could now allow the ICC to open cases as of April 1 on serious crimes the Palestinians allege were committed in the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip.

But Psaki emphasized that even according to the UN itself, Ban’s stamp of approval was bureaucratic and not an indication as to whether or not the Palestinians have the right to join the court.

“The UN spokesperson issued a statement you may have seen earlier today making clear that the steps taken in fulfilling the secretary-general’s role as depository for the ICC Rome Statute are purely administrative,” Paski said. “So they are therefore not a judgment on eligibility; they’re accepting the documents.”

Paski said that a bill proposed by Republican Sen. Rand Paul that would freeze aid to the Palestinians if they continue to pursue ICC membership was also being weighed.

“I’m not going to speak to proposed legislation,” she said. “There’s no question that we will be complying with all laws as it relates to our assistance, of course. So we’re consulting with Congress; we’re looking at the law. I don’t have any other analysis at this point in time about what the impact will be.”

While Palestinian membership in the court doesn’t automatically incur US punishment, existing law says any Palestinian case against Israel at the court would trigger an immediate cutoff of US financial support. Paul’s bill would ban assistance until Palestine stops its move to become a member of the court.

Should Paul’s bill go through, US Secretary of State John Kerry could still apply a waiver to continue aid to the Palestinians, an option Psaki said the State Department was reviewing.

“Our lawyers are still looking at what the implications are,” she said. “I think it’s unlikely we’ll have analysis on it right now. It’s something we’re looking closely at and we’re consulting with Congress on.”

No matter what, Palestinian membership at the ICC was unlikely to go through without a response in the form of a change in US policy on aid.

“There could be implications,” Psaki conceded but remained tight-lipped on what those measures would entail.

Other Palestinian applications to join various UN bodies did not, she said, contribute to the peace efforts.

“You know our view on their desire to not only become a state, which we certainly support, but their interest or efforts to accede to UN organizations, which we feel, of course, is counterproductive to the stated goal of achieving peace in the region.”

The ICC bid followed the Palestinians’ failure to win a UN Security Council majority for a resolution imposing a three-year time limit for a full Israeli withdrawal to the pre-1967 lines in the West Bank and Jerusalem.

Psaki said that despite the recent developments that have been driving a wedge between Israel and the Palestinians, Kerry is still interested in resuscitating peace talks between the two sides. The last round of talks fell apart in April 2014.

“I think the secretary will never give up on the prospect of looking for an opportunity for the parties to make the necessary decisions to return to negotiations and ultimately come to an agreement on a two-state solution,” she said. “Obviously, that needs to be up to the parties. There’s no questions there’s tensions between them at this point in time, to put it mildly. But he remains engaged with the Israelis and we remain closely engaged with the Palestinians as well, and I expect that will continue through the course of the coming months.”

Psaki also noted that the US was aware of Israeli reports that Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal had been booted out of Qatar, but said they were not yet confirmed.

“I’m not going to speculate on it,” she said. “I don’t have any confirmation about it. Our view on Hamas is very clear.”