The chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court has applied for arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Hamas’s leader in Gaza for war crimes.

Karim Khan KC said there were reasonable grounds to believe that both men bore criminal responsibility for war crimes and crimes against humanity from at least 7 October 2023.

Israeli defence minister Yoav Gallant and Hamas’s political leader Ismail Haniyeh, its military chief Mohammed Deif are also wanted for arrest.

The ICC, based in The Hague, has been investigating Israel’s actions in the occupied territories for the past three years - and more recently the actions of Hamas as well.

Mr Netanyahu recently called the prospect of senior Israel figures joining the ICC’s wanted list “an outrage of historic proportions”.

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