Israel and Hamas, currently engaged in heavy fighting in the Gaza Strip, both angrily rejected moves to arrest their leaders for war crimes made before an international court on Monday.
The International Criminal Court's (ICC) prosecutor, Karim Khan, announced that he had applied for arrest warrants for top Israeli and Hamas leaders over the conflict.
Israel criticised the demand targeting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Yoav Gallant as a "historical disgrace," while the Palestinian militant group Hamas said it "strongly condemns" the move.
Netanyahu said he rejected "with disgust The Hague prosecutor's comparison between democratic Israel and the mass murderers of Hamas".
Khan said in a statement that he was seeking warrants against the Israeli leaders for crimes including "wilful killing", "extermination and/or murder", and "starvation".
He said Israel had committed "crimes against humanity" during the war, started by Hamas's unprecedented October 7 attack, as part "of a widespread and systematic attack against the Palestinian civilian population".
Khan also stated that the leaders of Hamas, including Qatar-based Ismail Haniyeh and Gaza chief Yahya Sinwar, "bear criminal responsibility" for actions committed during the October 7 attack.
If granted by the ICC judges, the warrants would require any of the 124 ICC member states to technically arrest Netanyahu and the others if they travelled there. However, the court has no mechanism to enforce its warrants.
The United States, Israel's top ally, also rejected the ICC bid, with President Joe Biden denouncing it as "outrageous" and saying "there is no equivalence -- none -- between Israel and Hamas".
Biden also rejected accusations in a separate tribunal, the UN International Court of Justice, where South Africa has alleged that Israel's war in Gaza is genocidal.
"What's happening is not genocide," Biden told a Jewish American Heritage Month event at the White House on Monday.
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