After months of deliberation, the International Criminal Court, ICC has issued international arrest warrants for Israel’s prime minister and former defence minister, alleging war against humanity and war crimes.

The warrant was issued for crimes committed from at least October 8, 20023 to at least May 20, 2024.

According to the court, there are reasonable grounds to believe that Gallant and Netanyahu intentionally and knowingly deprived the civilian population in Gaza of objects indispensable to their survival, including food, water, and medicine and medical supplies, as well as fuel and electricity”, the statement continued.

“The Chamber issued warrants of arrest for two individuals, Mr Benjamin Netanyahu and Mr Yoav Gallant, for crimes against humanity and war crimes committed from at least 8 October 2023 until at least 20 May 2024”, a statement from the court said.

The court also rejected two Israeli challenges to its jurisdiction, saying “the acceptance by Israel of the Court’s jurisdiction is not required, as the Court can exercise its jurisdiction on the basis of territorial jurisdiction of Palestine”.

The ICC also issues arrest warrant for Mohammed Diab Ibrahim al-Masri.

The court said it unanimously decided to issue the warrant against him “for alleged crimes against humanity and war crimes committed on the territory of the State of Israel and the State of Palestine from at least 7 October 2023”.

The alleged crimes include firing rockets at Israeli territory and the October 7 attacks that killed at least 1,139 Israelis.

Israel claims to have killed Deif, the longtime leader of Hamas’s armed wing, the Qassam Brigades, in an air strike this past July.

That attack on a designated safe zone had struck tents housing displaced Palestinians and a water distillation plant, killing at least 90 people and wounding 300 others.

Israel has tried to avoid this by filing all kinds of complaints, but the ICC has now decided to reject these.

Born in 1965 in the Khan Younis refugee camp, Mohammad Masri became known as Mohammed Deif after joining Hamas during the first Intifada, or Palestinian uprising, in 1987.

In 1989, during the height of the first Palestinian Intifada, Deif was arrested by Israel and released after 16 months in detention.

Deif was one of the founders of Hamas’s military wing, the Qassam Brigades, in the 1990s and has led the force for more than 20 years.

He became the head of the Qassam Brigades in 2002 after Israel killed his predecessor and founding leader, Salah Shehadeh.

Deif is believed to have developed Hamas’s network of tunnels and its bomb-making expertise.

In August 2014, Deif’s wife and seven-month-old son were killed in an Israeli air strike that targeted a house in Gaza where the family was staying.

Deif is recognised as one of the chief architects of “Al-Aqsa Flood”, the name Hamas gave to its October 2023 operation against Israel.

A new presiding judge of the pre-trial chamber issued the warrants after the previous presiding judge recently stepped down after informing the court of a medical issue, after months of investigating the case.

Meanwhile, several Israeli officials have responded to the warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant.

In a post on X, opposition leader Yair Lapid condemned the court’s decision, characterising Israel’s war on Gaza as a fight for its life “against terrorist oganisations”.

Former Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman also spoke out against the ruling, writing on X that it shows the international community’s “double standards and hypocrisy”.

“The state of Israel will not apologise for protecting its citizens and is committed to continuing to fight terrorism without compromise,” Lieberman said.

Other Israeli official was quick to equate ICC arrest warrants with anti-Semitism

“This is modern antisemitism in the guise of justice,” Israeli Transportation Minister Miri Regev has posted on X, calling the ICC arrest warrants against Netanyahu and Gallant for alleged war crimes “a legal absurdity”.

“Simply anti-Semitism, always anti-Semitism,” Housing Minister Yitzhak Goldknopf said, citing a verse from the Torah that states the Jews are “a people that dwells alone, not reckoned among the nations”.

Itamar Ben-Gvir, Israel’s far-right national security minister, said: “The International Criminal Court in The Hague shows once again that it is anti-Semitic through and through. … I support the prime minister in the just war.”

“The answer to the arrest warrants: applying sovereignty over all the territories of Judea and Samaria [the occupied West Bank], settlement in all parts of the country and severing ties with the terrorist authority, including sanctions,” he added.

The Israeli prime minister is reportedly meeting with the US special envoy in what was originally supposed to be a discussion of a ceasefire in Lebanon.

Moments ago, PM Benjamin Netanyahu’s office rejected the issuance of the warrant, saying, “Israel rejects with disgust the absurd and false actions leveled against it by ICC,” Netanyahu’s office said in a statement, adding that Israel won’t “give in to pressure” in the defence of its citizens, a statement from the office reads.