The International Criminal Court (ICC) has issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over alleged war crimes. 

The arrest warrant was also issued to former defence minister Mohammed Deif and Hamas’s military commander, Yoav Gallant. 

Mr Deif was said to have been killed in an air strike in Gaza in July. 

In a statement issued in a pre-trial chamber, the judges said there were reasonable grounds that the three men bore “criminal responsibility” for alleged war crimes between Israel and Hamas. 

Both Israel and Hamas have rejected the allegations.

The Israeli prime minister’s office condemned the ICC’s decision as “antisemitic.”

Also, Hamas said the warrants for Messrs Netanyahu and Gallant set an “important historical precedent.”

ICC’s 124 member states are expected to decide whether or not to enforce the warrants. 

Earlier in May, the ICC prosecutor Karim Khan sought warrants for Netanyahu, Gallant, Deif and two other Hamas leaders, Ismail Haniyeh and Yahya Sinwar, who have since been killed.

Although Israel believes Mr Deif is dead, the chamber said it had been notified by the ICC prosecution that it was not in a position to determine whether he was killed or remained alive.

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

Israel responded to the attack by launching a military campaign to eliminate Hamas, during which at least 44,000 people have been killed in Gaza, according to the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry.