Live updates: Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, Benny Gantz ultimatum, Netanyahu government in turmoil

Hamas has denounced the request by the International Criminal Court for arrest warrants of three of its leadership over the October 7 attacks into southern Israel.

In a statement Monday, Hamas said it “strongly condemns the attempts of the ICC Prosecutor to equate victims with aggressors by issuing arrest warrants against a number of Palestinian resistance leaders without legal basis.”

The ICC prosecutor, Karim Khan, issued requests for arrest warrants for Yahya Sinwar, Hamas’ military leader in Gaza, as well as two other top Hamas figures — Mohammed Diab Ibrahim al-Masri, the leader of the Al Qassem Brigades and better known as Mohammed Deif, and Ismail Haniyeh, Hamas’ political leader.

Hamas said that arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant over Israel’s military campaign in Gaza had come “seven months late,” during which time “the Israeli occupation committed thousands of crimes against Palestinian civilians, including children, women, doctors, journalists, and the destruction of private and public properties, mosques, churches, and hospitals.”

The prosecutor should have issued arrest warrants against “all responsible leaders of the occupation who gave orders, and soldiers who participated in committing crimes,” according to the court’s statutes, the militant group added.

“Hamas calls on the ICC Prosecutor to issue arrest warrants against all war criminals among the occupation leaders, officers, and soldiers who participated in crimes against the Palestinian people, and demands the cancellation of all arrest warrants issued against Palestinian resistance leaders.”