The ICC has issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu, Gallant and a Hamas commander

International Criminal Court (ICC) judges have issued arrest warrants for Israel's prime minister and former defense minister, as well as the Hamas military commander.

The statement said the pre-trial court dismissed Israel's challenges to the court and issued warrants for Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant.

A warrant has also been issued for Mohammed Deif, although the Israeli military said he was killed in an airstrike in Gaza in July.

The judges said there were “reasonable grounds” that the three men were “guilty” of war crimes and crimes against humanity during the war between Israel and Hamas. Both Israel and Hamas have denied the allegations.

It will now be up to the ICC's 124 member states – which do not include Israel or its ally, the United States – to decide whether or not to enforce it.

In May, ICC prosecutor Karim Khan sought warrants against Netanyahu, Gallant, Deif and two other slain Hamas leaders, Ismail Haniyeh and Yahya Sinwar.

Although Israel believes Deif is dead, the chamber said it was informed by ICC prosecutors that it was not in a position to determine whether he was killed or alive.

The prosecutor's case against them stems from the events of October 7, 2023, when Hamas gunmen attacked southern Israel, killing around 1,200 people and taking 251 others back to Gaza as hostages.

Israel responded to the attack by launching a military campaign against Hamas, which has killed at least 44,000 people in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run health ministry in the area.

According to the ICC, the group “found reasonable grounds to believe” that Deif was “guilty of murder; extermination; harassment; and rape and other forms of sexual violence; and war crimes of murder, cruelty, torture; taking hostages; anger over human dignity; and rape and other forms of sexual violence”.

It also said there were reasonable grounds to believe that the crimes against humanity were “part of a widespread and systematic attack directed by Hamas and other armed groups against Israeli citizens”.

For Netanyahu and Gallant, who was replaced as defense minister earlier this month, the chamber “found reasonable grounds to believe” that “each of them is guilty of the following crimes as accomplices in committing these acts in concert with others: war crimes. starvation as a means of warfare; and crimes against humanity of murder, persecution, and other brutal acts”.

It also found reasonable grounds to believe that “each is criminally responsible as military commanders for the war crime of deliberately directing attacks on civilians”.

There was no immediate comment from Netanyahu, Gallant or Hamas.

Israeli President Isaac Herzog said: “If taken in bad faith, the bad decision at the ICC has turned international justice into a global laughing stock.”

“The decision chose the side of terrorism and evil over democracy and freedom, and turned the very justice system into a human shield for Hamas' crimes against humanity,” he added.

Mustafa Barghouti, a veteran Palestinian politician based in the West Bank, welcomed Netanyahu and Gallant's authority.

“We also ask the International Court of Justice to speed up its decision that Israel committed genocide,” he added, referring to a separate case currently being considered by the UN's highest court.