The announcement of International Criminal Court (ICC) arrest warrants for Israel’s current Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant sparked a furious response from leading Israelis across the political spectrum.

Instead, he was welcomed by Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and ordinary citizens of Gaza.

Leading Israeli figures across the political spectrum reacted angrily to the announcement.

President Isaac Herzog called it “a dark day for justice and humanity,” saying the decision “chose the side of terror and evil over democracy and freedom.”

The prime minister’s office called it “an anti-Semitic decision” and said Israel “absolutely rejects the false and absurd allegations,” labeling the ICC “a biased and discriminatory political body.”

Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee Chairman Yuli Edelstein called it “a shameful decision by a political body held captive by Islamist interests.” Israel’s foreign minister said the ICC had lost its legitimacy.

Hamas welcomed the decision, without commenting on the issuance of a warrant for its own military commander, Mohammed Deif.

In a statement, it said: “We call on all countries around the world to cooperate with the tribunal to bring to justice the Zionist war criminals Netanyahu and Gallant and work immediately to stop the genocidal crimes against defenseless civilians in the Gaza Strip.” .

Ordinary Palestinians in Gaza also welcomed the announcement. Muhammad Ali, a 40-year-old man displaced from Gaza City and currently in the central area of ​​Deir al-Balah, said:

“We were terrorized, starved, our homes were destroyed and we lost our children, sons and loved ones. We welcome this decision and, of course, we hope that the decisions of the ICC will be implemented.”

Munira Al-Shami, whose sister was killed by Israeli forces last month, called the ICC decision “justice for tens of thousands of victims, including my sister Wafa.”

A total of 124 countries are signatories ICCincluding the UK, but not the US, Russia, China, nor Israel itself.

So this means that technically if either Netanyahu or Gallant set foot in any of the signatory countries, they must be arrested and brought to court.

But international lawyers have expressed doubts that any of the men will ever be brought to The Hague for trial.

The last time Netanyahu traveled outside Israel was in July to the US, a country he could still theoretically visit with impunity.

Last year he visited several countries, including the UK in March, many of which are signatories.

It is thought unlikely that they would want to risk arrest by doing so again, and the countries concerned would also be reluctant to be put in that position.

Hamas has no reason to fear the ICC warrant for Ibrahim Al-Masri, alias Mohammed Deif. Israel believes he was killed earlier this yearalthough this has never been confirmed by Hamas.

The other two Hamas figures the ICC originally planned to prosecute – Yahya Sinwar and Ismail Haniyeh – are both confirmed dead.

There is no doubt that Thursday’s announcement is a major blow to Israel’s international standing, to the two individuals named, and especially to Israel’s continued efforts to portray its military campaign in Gaza as a battle between the forces of good and evil .

Israelis are horrified that, in their eyes, the world seems to have forgotten or already overlooked the atrocities committed by Hamas on October 7 last year.

Palestinians, especially those in Gaza, feel vindicated that their accusations of Israeli war crimes have now been repeated by an international body of some weight.