HAGUE – The world’s highest war crimes court on Thursday issued arrest warrants for Israeli and Hamas leaders, including Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. crimes against humanity in connection with their war, which started more than a year ago.

The arrest warrants for Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant focus on allegations that Israel used food as a weapon in its campaign against Hamas in Gaza, a charge Israeli officials deny. Experts have warned that hunger is widespread across Gaza and may have reached famine levels in the north of the area under siege by Israeli troops.

The International Criminal Court’s action came as the death toll in Israel’s Gaza operation We exceeded 44,000 people, According to local health authorities, more than half of those killed were women and children. Their numbers do not distinguish between civilians and combatants.

Netanyahu condemned the arrest warrant against him, saying Israel “rejects with disgust” the court’s “absurd and wrong actions.” The statement made by his office included the following statements: “There is nothing more just than the war waged by Israel in Gaza.”

The decision turns Netanyahu and others into internationally wanted suspects. isolate them even moreIt also complicates efforts to negotiate a ceasefire. But the practical consequences of this may be limited because Israel and its main ally, the United States, are not members of the court.

Israeli leaders, politicians and various officials condemned the arrest warrants and the ICC. Israel Katz, the new defense minister who replaced Gallant earlier this month, said Thursday’s decision was “a moral disgrace completely tainted by anti-Semitism and plunges the international judicial system into unprecedented decline.”

Human rights groups applauded the move.

Balkees Jarrah, deputy director of international justice at Human Rights Watch, said in a statement that the arrest warrants for both parties “destroy the perception that some people are outside the scope of the law.”

The decision comes six months after ICC Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan requested an arrest warrant.

The court issued an arrest warrant for Mohammed Deif, the head of Hamas’ armed wing. October 7, 2023, attacks The incident that triggered Israel’s attack on Gaza. He said he found reasonable grounds to believe that Deif was involved in murder, rape, torture and hostage-taking, amounting to war crimes and crimes against humanity.

In the Hamas-led offensive, militants raided southern Israel, killing 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking 250 hostages. About 100 Israelis are held captive in Gaza, and about a third of them are believed to be dead.

Khan withdrew the arrest request for two other senior Hamas officials. Yahya Sinvar And Ismail Haniyeboth have since been killed. Israel says it also killed Deif in an airstrike, but Hamas has never confirmed his death.

The arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant were issued in a unanimous decision by a three-judge panel.

The board said there were reasonable grounds to believe that they “intentionally and knowingly deprived the civilian population of Gaza of objects indispensable to their survival, including food, water, medicine, fuel and electricity.”

Israel’s Foreign Ministry said in September that it filed two legal briefs challenging the ICC’s jurisdiction and arguing that the court did not give Israel the opportunity to personally investigate the allegations before requesting an arrest warrant.

The ICC is a court of last resort that prosecutes cases only when local law enforcement cannot or will not investigate. Israel is not a member country of the court. Rights groups say the country has had difficulty investigating itself in the past.

Despite the arrests, it seems unlikely that any of the suspects will appear before a judge in The Hague anytime soon. Member states are required to detain suspects who face arrest warrants if they set foot on their soil, but the court has no way to enforce this.

For example, Russian President Vladimir Putin, who is wanted by the order of the ICC for alleged war crimes in Ukraine, recently visited Ukraine. Mongolia is a member state at the court but also an ally of Russia. He was not arrested.

Still, the threat of arrest makes it difficult for Netanyahu and Gallant to travel abroad, including trips to France and Britain, close allies of Israel, said Yuval Shany, an international law expert at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

France signaled that it could arrest Netanyahu if he comes to its territory. State Department spokesman Christophe Lemoine called it a “complex legal issue” but said France supported the court’s actions.

He said the fight against impunity is our priority. “Our response will be in accordance with these principles.”

Israel’s opposition leaders strongly criticized the ICC’s move. Retired general Benny Gantz, Netanyahu’s political rival, said this showed “moral blindness” and was “a shameful stain of historical proportions that will never be forgotten.”

Another opposition leader, Yair Lapid, described it as a “terrorism reward”.

Shortly after launching its campaign promising to destroy Hamas following the October attacks, Israel announced it had completely sealed off Gaza, promising not to let in food, water or other supplies. Under pressure from the United States, it began allowing some humanitarian aid to enter after a few weeks. The campaign caused heavy destruction in Gaza, displacing almost the entire population of 2.3 million from their homes, leaving many dependent on humanitarian aid to survive.

Israel now says it has no limits on the amount of supplies to Gaza. Still, the flow of food and other goods is at near war lows, and the UN and other groups say Israel’s military restrictions, as well as widespread lawlessness that has led to the theft of aid shipments, are largely to blame.

The case at the ICC is separate from another legal challenge Israel is waging at the International Court of Justice, the UN’s top court. South Africa accuses Israel of genocideIt’s a claim that Israeli leaders strongly reject.

Israel’s lawyers argued in court that the war in Gaza was a legitimate defense of the Israeli people and that those guilty of genocide were Hamas militants.

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Associated Press journalists Raf Casert in Brussels, Mike Corder in The Hague and Josef Federman in Jerusalem contributed to this report.