Hamas Israel Conflict….Day 409…Netanyahu Arrest Warrant…An Aide Indicted….

The court’s chief prosecutor had requested the warrants in May. The warrants issued Thursday have not been made public, but the court said they include accusations of using starvation as a weapon of war and “intentionally directing an attack against the civilian population.”

Mr. Netanyahu’s office swiftly rejected what it called “absurd and false accusations,” and insisted that Israel would keep fighting in Gaza to defend its citizens. The Israeli leader “will not surrender to the pressures; he will not recoil or withdraw until all of the war’s goals — that were set at the start of the battle — are achieved,” the office said in a statement.

The decision places Mr. Netanyahu, the leader of one of the United States’ closest allies, in the same lineup as President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, the target of an arrest warrant issued last year. Mr. Netanyahu and Mr. Gallant would face the risk of arrest should they travel to one of the court’s 124 member nations, which include most European countries. The United States is not a member of the court.

Hamas officials celebrated the warrants against Mr. Netanyahu and Mr. Gallant — without mentioning the accusations against Mr. Deif. Izzat al-Rishq, a senior Hamas official, said that regardless of whether arrests were made, “The truth that has been revealed is that international justice is with us and against” Israel. In Gaza, Palestinians expressed cautious optimism and hoped the news could signal an end to more than a year of war.

Here is what else to know:

• Global outcry: Israel has faced increasing condemnation over the war against Hamas in Gaza, where more than 44,000 Palestinians have been killed, according to the Gazan Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants. Israel maintains that it fights in accordance with the international laws of war.

• Hamas officials killed: The I.C.C. chief prosecutor, Karim Khan, in May had also sought arrest warrants for Yahya Sinwar, the leader of Hamas, and Ismail Haniyeh, another top official. But both have since been killed. Israel claimed it killed Mr. Deif in an airstrike in Gaza in July.

• Lebanon talks: The court’s announcement came while a top Biden administration envoy, Amos Hochstein, was in Israel and scheduled to meet with Mr. Netanyahu. Mr. Hochstein has been in the region pushing for a cease-fire between Israel and Hezbollah, the Lebanese militant group that has been clashing with Israel over the last year in solidarity with Hamas.

• Autocratic company: Mr. Netanyahu is among only a handful of world leaders sought for arrest by the I.C.C. They include Mr. Putin, the Russian president, over the invasion of Ukraine; Muammar Gaddafi, who ruled Libya until his death in 2011; and Koudou Laurent Gbagbo, the president of Ivory Coast, for crimes against humanity in the wake of the disputed 2010 election…..