The International Criminal Court has issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former defence secretary Yoav Gallant.

They are accused of murder, persecution, and using starvation as a weapon of war during Israel’s war in Gaza.

Israeli president Isaac Herzog said the court had “chosen the side of terror and evil over democracy and freedom”.

Jerusalem has previously insisted that the ICC does not have jurisdiction to rule on its military campaign in the occupied Palestinian territories.

The Hague ruled on Thursday that Israel's acceptance of the court's jurisdiction is "not required," however.

"The Court can exercise its jurisdiction on the basis of territorial jurisdiction of Palestine, as determined by Pre-Trial Chamber I in a previous composition,” they said in a statement.

The ICC also ruled that states are unable to challenge the court's jurisdiction before a warrant of arrest has been issued.

The court also rejected a further challenge issued by Israel concerning the issuing of arrest warrants.

The ICC said: “Each bears criminal responsibility for the following crimes as co-perpetrators for committing the acts jointly with others: the war crime of starvation as a method of warfare; and the crimes against humanity of murder, persecution, and other inhumane acts.

“The Chamber also found reasonable grounds to believe that Mr Netanyahu and Mr Gallant each bear criminal responsibility as civilian superiors for the war crime of intentionally directing an attack against the civilian population.”

The court believes Netanyahu and Gallant "intentionally and knowingly" deprived Palestinian civilians of food, water and medicine from the start of their campaign in Gaza till at least May of this year.

The humanitarian aid that was granted, they claim, was only allowed because of pressure from the international community and the US government.

"In any event,” the ICC said, “the increases in humanitarian assistance were not sufficient to improve the population’s access to essential goods.”

Netanyahu and Gallant also caused great suffering for Palestinians by intentionally limiting or preventing medicine – including anaesthetics –from entering Gaza, the court said.

The ICC added: "Doctors were forced to operate on wounded persons and carry out amputations, including on children, without anaesthetics, and/or were forced to use inadequate and unsafe means to sedate patients, causing these persons extreme pain and suffering.

"This amounts to the crime against humanity of other inhumane acts.”

Herzog said: “This is a dark day for justice. A dark day for humanity.

“Taken in bad faith, the outrageous decision at the ICC has turned universal justice into a universal laughing stock. It makes a mockery of the sacrifice of all those who fight for justice - from the Allied victory over the Nazis till today.”

Issuing arrest warrants ignores the Israeli hostages remaining in Gaza, Hamas's use of "human shields" and Israel's right to defend itself, he claimed.

Herzog added: “The decision has chosen the side of terror and evil over democracy and freedom, and turned the very system of justice into a human shield for Hamas’ crimes against humanity.”

The ICC’s decision is likely to damage Israel’s international standing.

Caspar Veldkamp, the Netherlands’ foreign affairs minister, said on Thursday he would execute the arrest warrant if Netanyahu were to travel to his country.

When first requesting arrest warrants in May, the ICC's Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan KC said he had reasonable grounds to believe that Netanyahu and Gallant, who was dismissed from his role as defence secretary earlier this month, bear responsibility for crimes against humanity committed in Gaza.

These included starvation of civilians as a method of warfare, intentionally directing attacks against a civilian population and wilfully causing great suffering.

The alleged crimes began on October 8 last year, Khan said, as Israel began its military campaign against Hamas.

The ICC also issued an arrest warrant for Hamas leader Mohammed Diab Ibrahim al Masri, popularly known as Mohammed Deif.

The IDF claimed to have killed the military commander in an air strike in August, however.

In May, Khan requested that arrest warrants be issued for Yahya Sinwar, the architect of the October 7 attack, and Ismail Haniyeh, the head of Hamas's political bureau.

Both men have since been killed by Israeli operations.