Biden calls ICC arrest warrants for Israeli leaders 'outrageous'

Outgoing US President Joe Biden denounced a decision by the International Criminal Court (ICC) to issue arrest warrants Thursday for Israel's prime minister and his former defense minister.

"The ICC issuance of arrest warrants against Israeli leaders is outrageous," said Biden in a statement. "Let me be clear once again: whatever the ICC might imply, there is no equivalence — none — between Israel and Hamas."

He said the US "will always stand with Israel against threats to its security."

In a landmark move, the court announced that it had issued arrest warrants for Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant for war crimes in Palestinian territories, including Gaza.

The court said it "found reasonable grounds" to believe that Netanyahu and Gallant "bear criminal responsibility" for "the war crime of starvation as a method of warfare; and the crimes against humanity of murder, persecution and other inhumane acts."

The warrants come as Israel's genocidal offensive in Gaza recently entered its second year, having already killed some 44,000 Palestinians, most of them women and children, and injured over 103,000 others.