HAGUE – The president of a panel of the International Criminal Court considering a request for issuance of arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, his defense minister and senior Hamas leaders were replaced for medical reasons.

On Friday, the court published a decision by which it accepted the request of the Romanian judge Iulia Motoc to be removed from the file “for medical reasons and the need to guarantee the good administration of justice”.

The ruling did not elaborate or disclose further details, saying that “Judge Motoc’s personal medical situation is entitled to medical confidentiality.”

Motoc was replaced by Beti Hohler, a Slovenian who was elected a judge at the court last year after earlier serving as a trial lawyer in the court’s prosecutor’s office.

The decision is likely to further delay a decision on the application by the court’s chief prosecutor, Karim Khan.

In his May application for warrants, Khan accused Netanyahu, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and three Hamas leaders – Yahya Sinwar, Mohammed Deif and Ismail Haniyeh – of war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Gaza Strip and Israel.

Netanyahu called the prosecutor’s charges against him a “disgrace” and an attack on the Israeli military and all of Israel.

US President Joe Biden called the warrant application for Netanyahu and Gallant “outrageous”, adding “whatever this prosecutor assumes, there is no equivalence between Israel and Hamas”.

Hamas also denounced the ICC prosecutor’s actions, saying the demand for the arrest of its leaders “equates the victim with the executioner.”

From the request Sinwar and Haniyeh were confirmed killed. Israel claimed it killed Deif, but Hamas said he survived.

Israel is not a member of the court, so even if arrest warrants are issued, Netanyahu and Gallant face no immediate risk of prosecution. But the threat of arrest could make it difficult for Israeli leaders to travel abroad.

Hamas-led militants stormed southern Israel on October 7, 2023, killing about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and kidnapping another 250. About 100 hostages are still in Gaza, a third of whom are believed to be dead.

Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed more than 42,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which does not say how many were combatants, but says women and children account for more than half of the deaths. The Israeli military says it has killed more than 17,000 fighters, without providing evidence.

The Israeli campaign it has since expanded to Lebanon, where Israel launched a ground invasion October 1, after exchanging fire with the militant group Hezbollah for much of the past year.

Friday’s announcement about Motoc was unrelated Defendants it emerged that Khan tried for more than a year to coerce a female assistant into sexual intercourse and groped her against her will. He flatly denied the allegations, saying there was “no truth to the suggestions of wrongdoing”. Court officials said they may have been made as part of a smear campaign against Israeli intelligence.

A court watchdog could not determine wrongdoing, but urged Khan in a memo to minimize contact with the woman to protect the rights of everyone involved and protect the integrity of the court.