US President Joe Biden has called the International Criminal Court's arrest warrants for top Israeli leaders "outrageous" in a statement.
"Whatever the ICC might imply, there is no equivalence - none - between Israel and Hamas," Mr Biden said after the international tribunal issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former defence minister Yoav Gallant on suspicion of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
"We will always stand with Israel against threats to its security," the US President added.
In an earlier statement, the White House said it "fundamentally rejects" the calls for arrests.
"We remain deeply concerned by the prosecutor's rush to seek arrest warrants and the troubling process errors that led to this decision. The United States has been clear that the ICC does not have jurisdiction over this matter," a National Security Council spokesperson said.
The statement made no mention of an ICC arrest warrant also issued for Mohammed Deif, the military chief of Hamas.
Mike Waltz, the incoming national security adviser under US president-elect Donald Trump's administration, defended Israel and promised a "strong response to the anti-Semitic bias of the ICC and UN come January".
"The ICC has no credibility and these allegations have been refuted by the US government," Mr Waltz said on social media platform X.
His comments reflected a wider outrage among Republicans, with some calling for the US Senate to sanction the ICC, which counts 124 national members who are in theory obliged to arrest individuals subject to warrants.
Neither the United States nor Israel is a member of the ICC and both have rejected its jurisdiction.
The Hague-based court said that the warrants for Mr Netanyahu and Mr Gallant were issued "for crimes against humanity and war crimes committed from at least 8 October 2023 until at least 20 May 2024".
A warrant was also issued for Deif, whom Israel claimed was killed in an airstrike in Gaza in July. Hamas has not confirmed his death.
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What's next after ICC issues warrants for Israeli and Hamas leaders?
Meanwhile, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, whose country holds the EU's rotating presidency, said he would invite Mr Netanyahu to visit and defy the ICC arrest warrant.
"Later today, I will invite the Israeli Prime Minister, Mr Netanyahu, to visit Hungary, where I will guarantee him, if he comes, that the judgment of the International Criminal Court will have no effect in Hungary, and that we will not follow its terms", Mr Orban told state radio.
Elsewhere, China has urged the ICC Court to remain objective and fair after it issued the arrest warrant.
"China hopes the ICC will uphold an objective and just position (and) exercise its powers in accordance with the law," foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian said at a regular press conference in response to a question.
Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland, Fine Gael leader Simon Harris said that Mr Netanyahu would be arrested if he landed in Ireland.
"We support international courts and we apply their warrants," he said.
Tánaiste Micheál Martin said he is concerned about the US approach to the ICC, and said he did not agree with Mr Biden's description of the arrest warrants as "outrageous".
Speaking on Newstalk radio, he said there has to be accountability at international level through a court system and the independence of the court must be respected.
