"The outrageous decision by the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court in The Hague is a frontal attack with no limits on the victims of October 7 and on our 128 hostages in Gaza," Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz said today in a post on the social network X.

The head of diplomacy announced in the same note that he had ordered the "immediate creation of a special committee" in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, "with all professional entities, with the aim of fighting against the decision that aims, first of all, to tie Israel's hands and prevent the country from exercising its right to self-defense".

ICC prosecutor Karim Khan today requested the issuance of arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the leader of the Islamist group Hamas in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar.

Netanyahu and Sinwar are suspected of war crimes and crimes against humanity, according to a statement released by Khan in The Hague, Netherlands, seat of the ICC.

Khan also asked the ICC to issue arrest warrants for Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, Al-Qassam Brigades commander Mohammed Al-Masri, and Hamas political bureau chief Ismail Haniyeh.

"While the murderers and rapists of Hamas commit crimes against humanity, against our brothers and sisters, the prosecutor mentions in the same breath the Prime Minister and the Minister of Defense of Israel alongside the vile Nazi monsters of Hamas - a historical shame that will be remembered forever," criticized Israel Katz.

The minister also said that he intends to speak with his counterparts "from the main countries of the world to urge them to oppose the prosecutor's decision and to declare that, even if warrants are issued, they do not intend to enforce them against Israeli leaders".

"No power in the world will prevent us from recovering all our hostages and overthrowing the Hamas terrorist regime," he stressed.

The ongoing conflict in the Gaza Strip was triggered by the attack by the Islamist group Hamas on Israeli soil on October 7, 2023, which caused about 1,200 deaths and two hundred hostages, according to Israeli authorities.

In response, Israel launched a large-scale military offensive in the Gaza Strip, which has already caused more than 35,000 deaths, mostly civilians, according to local authorities controlled by Hamas.

The Israeli offensive is causing a serious humanitarian crisis in Gaza, with more than 1.1 million people in a "catastrophic hunger situation" that is already claiming victims - "the highest number ever recorded" by the UN in food security studies in the world.

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