THE HAGUE – The world’s top war crimes court on Thursday issued arrest warrants for the leaders of Israel and Hamas, including Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, accusing them of crimes against humanity in connection with their war which began 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 has become widespread in Gaza and may have reached famine levels in the territory’s north, which is besieged by Israeli troops.

The action of the International Criminal Court constitutes the death toll of the Israeli campaign in Gaza. exceeded 44,000 people, according to local health authorities, who say more than half of those killed were women and children. Their count does not differentiate between civilians and combatants.

Netanyahu condemned the arrest warrant issued against him, saying Israel “rejects with disgust the absurd and false actions” of the court. In a statement released by his office, he said: “There is nothing more than the war that Israel is waging in Gaza. »

The decision makes Netanyahu and others internationally wanted suspects and could isolate them furtheras well as complicating efforts to negotiate a ceasefire. But its practical implications could be limited since Israel and its main ally, the United States, are not members of the court.

Israeli leaders, politicians and officials on all sides have denounced the arrest warrants and the ICC. New Defense Minister Israel Katz, who replaced Gallant earlier this month, said Thursday’s decision is “a moral disgrace, tainted entirely by anti-Semitism, and one that drags the international justice system to a new level unprecedented.”

Human rights groups applauded the move.

The arrest warrants against both parties “shatter the perception that certain individuals are beyond the reach of the law,” Balkees Jarrah, deputy international justice director at Human Rights Watch, said in a statement.

The decision came six months after ICC chief prosecutor Karim Khan requested the arrest warrants.

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

In the Hamas-led attack, militants swept into southern Israel, killing 1,200 people – mostly civilians – and taking some 250 others hostage. Around a hundred Israelis remain captive in Gaza, around a third of whom are believed to have died.

Khan withdrew his request for an arrest warrant against two other senior Hamas officials, Yahya Sinwar And Ismail Haniyehboth of whom have since been killed. Israel claims it also killed Deif in an airstrike, but Hamas has never confirmed his death.

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

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

Israel’s Foreign Ministry said in September that it had submitted two legal briefs challenging the ICC’s jurisdiction and arguing that the court had not given Israel the opportunity to investigate the allegations itself before requesting arrest warrants.

The ICC is a court of last resort that only prosecutes when national law enforcement authorities are unable or unwilling to investigate. Israel is not a member state of the Court. The country has struggled to investigate itself in the past, rights groups say.

Despite the arrest warrants, none of the suspects are expected to face a judge in The Hague anytime soon. Member countries are required to arrest suspects on warrants if they set foot on their soil, but the court has no way of enforcing this.

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

Still, the threat of arrest now complicates any foreign travel by Netanyahu and Gallant — including to Israel’s close allies, such as France or Britain, said Yuval Shany, an international law expert at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

France has indicated it could arrest Netanyahu if he comes to its territory. Foreign Ministry spokesman Christophe Lemoine called the issue a “complex legal issue” but said France supported the court’s actions.

“The fight against impunity is our priority,” he declared. “Our response will be consistent with these principles.”

Israeli opposition leaders strongly criticized the ICC’s decision. Benny Gantz, a retired general and Netanyahu’s political rival, said it demonstrated “moral blindness” and was a “shameful stain of historic proportions that will never be forgotten.”

Yair Lapid, another opposition leader, called it the “price of terrorism.”

Shortly after Israel launched its campaign promising to destroy Hamas following the October attacks, it announced a total closure of Gaza, promising not to let in food, water or other supplies. Under American pressure, it began to let in humanitarian aid a few weeks later. The campaign caused widespread destruction across Gaza and forced almost the entire population of 2.3 million people from their homes, leaving most dependent on humanitarian aid to survive.

Israel now says it places no limits on the amount of supplies going to Gaza. Still, the flow of food and other goods is near its lowest level since the war, and the U.N. and other groups have said Israeli military restrictions are largely to blame, along with lawlessness widespread which led to the theft of aid deliveries.

The case before the ICC is separate from another legal battle Israel is waging before the UN’s highest court, the International Court of Justice, in which South Africa accuses Israel of genocidean allegation that Israeli leaders categorically deny.

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

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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.