THE HAGUE — The world’s top war-crimes court issued arrest warrants Thursday for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, his former defense minister and Hamas’ military chief, accusing all three of crimes against humanity in the 13-month war in Gaza.

The warrants said there was reason to believe Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant have used “starvation as a method of warfare” by restricting humanitarian aid and have intentionally targeted civilians in Israel’s campaign against Hamas in Gaza — charges Israeli officials deny.

The court also issued a warrant for Mohammed Deif, head of Hamas’ armed wing, over the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks that triggered Israel’s offensive in Gaza.

The action by the International Criminal Court came as the death toll from Israel’s campaign in Gaza passed 44,000 people, according to local health authorities, who say more than half of those killed were women and children. Their count does not differentiate between civilians and combatants.

Experts say hunger has become widespread across Gaza and may have reached famine levels in the north of the territory, which is under siege by Israeli troops.

Netanyahu condemned the warrant against him, saying Israel “rejects with disgust the absurd and false actions” by the court. In a statement released by his office, he said: “There is nothing more just than the war that Israel has been waging in Gaza.”

Gallant’s statement said the decision “sets a dangerous precedent against the right to self-defense and moral warfare and encourages murderous terrorism.”

The decision turns the three men into internationally wanted suspects and could further isolate them, putting them at risk of arrest when they travel abroad. Its practical implications could be limited because Israel and its major ally, the United States, are not members of the court.

Still, the warrant marked the first time that a sitting leader of a major Western ally has been accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity by a global court of justice. It put Israel’s allies, including some of its closest European friends, in an awkward position. Leaders of several nations, including France, welcomed the court’s decision and signaled they might arrest Netanyahu if he visited.

The move “represents the most dramatic step yet in the court’s involvement in the conflict between Israel and Hamas,” said Anthony Dworkin, senior fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations.

Israeli leaders, politicians and officials across the political spectrum denounced the warrants and the ICC. The new defense minister, Israel Katz, who succeeded Gallant this month, said Thursday’s decision is “a moral disgrace, entirely tainted by antisemitism, and drags the international judicial system to an unprecedented low.”

Human rights groups applauded the move.

The warrants against both sides “break through the perception that certain individuals are beyond the reach of the law,” the associate international justice director at Human Rights Watch, Balkees Jarrah, said in a statement.

The decision came six months after ICC Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan requested the warrants.

The court also said it found reasonable grounds to believe Deif was involved in murder, rape, torture and hostage-taking, amounting to war crimes and crimes against humanity.

In the Hamas-led attack, militants stormed into southern Israel, killing 1,200 people — mostly civilians — and taking about 250 hostage. Around 100 Israelis remain captive in Gaza, but a third of them are believed to be dead.

Khan withdrew requests for warrants for two other senior Hamas figures, Yahya Sinwar and Ismail Haniyeh, who have since been killed. Israel says it also killed Deif in an airstrike, but Iran-backed Hamas has never confirmed his death.

The warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant were issued by a three-judge panel in a unanimous decision. The judges said the lack of food, water, electricity, fuel and specific medical supplies created conditions “calculated to bring about the destruction of part of the civilian population in Gaza,” including the deaths of children due to malnutrition and dehydration.

They also found that by preventing hospital supplies and medicine from getting into Gaza, doctors were forced to operate, including performing amputations, without anesthesia or with unsafe means of sedation that led to “great suffering.”

Despite the warrants, none of the suspects is likely to face judges in The Hague anytime soon. Member countries are required to detain suspects facing a warrant if they set foot on their soil, but the court has no way to enforce that.