International Criminal Court Seeks Netanyahu’s Arrest Over Gaza War

The International Criminal Court on Thursday issued arrest warrants for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel and his former defense minister, Yoav Gallant, accusing them of war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Gaza Strip and dealing an extraordinary blow to Israel’s global standing as it presses on with wars on multiple fronts.

The court also issued a warrant for the arrest of Hamas’s military chief, Muhammad Deif, accusing him, too, of crimes against humanity, including murder, hostage taking and sexual violence. Israel has said that it killed Mr. Deif in an airstrike, but the court said it could not determine whether he was dead.

Mr. Netanyahu and Mr. Gallant are unlikely to find themselves in a courtroom standing trial on the charges anytime soon. The court has no police force to make arrests and neither Israel nor its chief ally, the United States, is among its member nations. But the order carries significant moral weight, it is likely to restrict the leaders’ travel around the world, and it further isolates Israel as it prosecutes wars in Gaza and Lebanon.

The court did not release the warrants, but it said in a news release that there were reasonable grounds to believe that Mr. Netanyahu and Mr. Gallant “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.”

It also said there was reason to believe that they impeded humanitarian aid for Gazans in violation of international law.

Mr. Netanyahu’s office swiftly rejected what it called “absurd and false accusations,” insisting that Israel would keep fighting in Gaza to defend its citizens. The Israeli leader “will not surrender to the pressures; he will not recoil or withdraw until all of the war’s goals — that were set at the start of the battle — are achieved,” his office said in a statement.