US President Joe Biden has denounced an "outrageous" application by the International Criminal Court's prosecutor for an arrest warrant for Israel's prime minister and defense minister.
"What's happening is not genocide," Mr Biden told a Jewish American Heritage Month event at the White House as he discussed the conflict sparked by Hamas's 7 October attack on Israel.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken separately warned that efforts to secure a ceasefire in Israel's war on Hamas in Gaza could be harmed by the move by the Hague-based court.
ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan is seeking arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, as well as top Hamas leaders, on suspicion of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
"The ICC prosecutor's application for arrest warrants against Israeli leaders is outrageous. And let me be clear: whatever this prosecutor might imply, there is no equivalence - none - between Israel and Hamas," Mr Biden said in a statement.
"We will always stand with Israel against threats to its security."
Neither the United States nor Israel is a member of the ICC and both have rejected its jurisdiction.
Mr Biden did not comment on the warrant requests for Yahya Sinwar, the head of the Palestinian Hamas movement in Gaza, and Ismail Haniyeh, the movement's political chief.
Mr Biden's expression of support for Mr Netanyahu over the ICC bid comes despite recent disagreements with Israel over its conduct in the Gaza war.
Washington recently withheld a shipment of arms to Israel in a bid to warn off an offensive in the southern city of Rafah.
Mr Blinken denounced the ICC application as "shameful" and warned it could harm ongoing efforts for a ceasefire in Israel's war on Hamas following the militant group's 7 October attack on Israel.
"The United States fundamentally rejects the announcement today from the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court," Mr Blinken said in a statement.
"We reject the prosecutor's equivalence of Israel with Hamas. It is shameful."
Mr Blinken added that "this decision does nothing to help, and could jeopardize, ongoing efforts to reach a ceasefire agreement that would get hostages out and surge humanitarian assistance in."
Israel and Hamas have both angrily rejected moves to arrest their leaders for war crimes.
Israel slammed as a "historical disgrace" the demand targeting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, while the Palestinian militant group Hamas said it "strongly condemns" the move.
Mr Netanyahu said the decision was "absurd" and the move was meant to target all of Israel.
"I reject the disgust the comparison of the prosecutor in the Hague between democratic Israel and the mass murderers of Hamas," Mr Netanyahu said.
He added: "With what audacity do you compare Hamas that murdered, burned, butchered, decapitated, raped and kidnapped our brothers and sisters and the IDF soldiers fightinga just war."
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Mr Khan said in a statement that he was seeking warrants against the Israeli leaders for crimes including "wilful killing", "extermination and/or murder" and "starvation".
Tánaiste Micheál Martin said he noted the announcement from Mr Khan on the applications for the arrest warrants and condemned "recent threats" against the ICC.
He said on X: "It is vital that we respect the independence and impartiality of the ICC.
"Ireland condemns recent threats against the ICC and its officials - its role in ending impunity is essential."
I note today's announcement from ICC Prosecutor, Karim Khan on applications for arrest warrants
— Micheál Martin (@MichealMartinTD) May 20, 2024
It is vital that we respect the independence and impartiality of the ICC
Ireland condemns recent threats against the ICC and its officials - its role in ending impunity is essential
In the war started by Hamas's 7 October attack, he said, Israel had committed "crimes against humanity" as part "of a widespread and systematic attack against the Palestinian civilian population".
He also said that the leaders of Hamas, including Qatar-based Ismail Haniyeh and Gaza chief Yahya Sinwar, "bear criminal responsibility" for actions committed during the 7 October attack.
These included "taking hostages", "rape and other acts of sexual violence" and "torture", Mr Khan added.
"International law and the laws of armed conflict apply to all," he added. "No foot soldier, no commander, no civilian leader - no one - can act with impunity."
If granted by the ICC judges, the warrants would mean that technically any of the 124 ICC member states would be obliged to arrest Mr Netanyahu and the others if they travelled there, but the court has no mechanism to enforce its warrants.
The bloodiest ever Gaza war ground on unabated, with Israeli forces battling Hamas especially in Gaza's far-southern city of Rafah, but also in other flashpoints in central and northern areas.
Nearly two weeks ago, Israel defied international opposition and sent troops into Rafah, which is crowded with civilians and which the army has described as the last Hamas stronghold.
Mr Netanyahu has vowed to keep fighting Hamas in Gaza until the Iran-backed Islamist group is defeated and all remaining hostages are released.
As the heavy fighting has rocked areas of Rafah near the Egyptian border since early May, the UN said more than 810,000 Palestinians have fled the city.
Witnesses told AFP that Israeli naval forces had also struck Rafah, and medics reported an air strike on a residential building in the city's west.
The army said Israeli troops were "conducting targeted raids on terrorist infrastructure" in eastern Rafah where they had found "dozens of tunnel shafts".
Mr Gallant said he had told visiting US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan of "Israel's duty to expand the ground operation in Rafah, to dismantle Hamas and to return the hostages".
The war broke out after Hamas's unprecedented attack on Israel, which resulted in the deaths of more than 1,170 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures.
Hamas also took about 250 hostages during the attack, of whom 124 remain held in Gaza including 37 the army says are dead.
Israel's retaliatory offensive against Hamas has killed at least 35,562 people in Gaza, also mostly civilians, according to data provided by the Hamas-run territory's health ministry.
Israel has imposed a siege on the long-blockaded Gaza, depriving its 2.4 million people of normal access to clean water, food, medicines and fuel.
The suffering has been eased only by sporadic aid shipments by land, air and sea, but truck arrivals have slowed to a trickle amid the Rafah operation.
The European Union warned that 31 of Gaza's 36 hospitals are no longer functioning and that the rest are "on the verge of collapse, with more than 9,000 severely injured people at risk of dying".
Israeli forces have also been engaged in intense fighting in northern and central areas previously declared largely cleared of militants.
Israeli warplanes carried out overnight strikes on Gaza City's centre and the southern neighbourhoods, as well as on Al-Bureij camp and Deir al-Balah in central Gaza, said AFP correspondent, Palestinian medics and witnesses.
Mr Sullivan met with Mr Netanyahu on Sunday and told him Israel must link the military operation against Hamas with a "political strategy" for Gaza's future.
Washington has pushed for a post-war plan for Gaza involving Palestinians and supported by regional powers, as well as for a broader diplomatic deal under which Israel and regional powerhouse Saudi Arabia would normalise relations.
The White House said Mr Sullivan and Mr Netanyahu had also discussed the "potential" of a normalisation deal between Israel and Saudi Arabia.
Israel's centrist politician Benny Gantz has threatened to quit the governing hard-right coalition if Mr Netanyahu does not approve a post-war "action plan" for Gaza by 8 June.
