Israel-Hamas war: Biden says Gaza offensive 'not genocide'

US President Joe Biden said the Israeli offensive against Hamas militants in Gaza did not amount to "genocide."

South Africa filed a case at the International Court of Justice accusing Israel of violating the 1948 Geneva Convention.

Israel has said it was working in accordance with international law and has rejected the claims as being baseless.

"What's happening is not genocide, we reject that," Biden said, referring to the case at the UN's top court.

Biden also condemned the International Criminal Court's decision to seek arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his defense chief Yoav Gallant, over actions taken during their seven-month war.

The German Foreign Ministry has said it respects the International Criminal Court, but that the requests for arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, as well as top Hamas leaders, created a "false impression of equivalence."

"The simultaneous application for arrest warrants against the Hamas leaders on the one hand and the two Israeli officials on the other has given the false impression of equivalence," a Foreign Ministry spokesman said in a statement.

Earlier Monday, ICC prosecutor Karim Khan applied for arrest warrants against Netanyahu and Gallant as well as three top Hamas leaders on suspicion of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

South Africa has welcomed the ICC prosecutor's request for arrest warrants for Israeli and Hamas leaders. 

"The law must be applied equally to all in order to uphold the international rule of law, ensure accountability for those that commit heinous crimes and protect the rights of victims," the office of President Cyril Ramaphosa office said in a statement. 

"South Africa is committed to the international rule of law, universal respect for human rights and the settlement of all international disputes by negotiation and not war, and the self-determination of all peoples, including the Palestinians," he said. 

In a separate case, South Africa has urged the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to order an end to Israel's assault on Rafah, accusing Israel of intensifying what it calls "genocide" in Gaza.

It is part of a broader case in which Pretoria has accused Israel of committing "acts of genocide" against Palestinians in Gaza. Israel has denied the charge. 

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahuhas rejected "with disgust" the ICC prosecutor's request for arrest warrants against him and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.

"As prime minister of Israel, I reject with disgust the Hague prosecutor's comparison between democratic Israel and the mass murders of Hamas," he said. 

Netanyahu and other Israeli leaders have condemned the move as antisemitic. 

ICC chief prosecutor Karim Khan believes Netanyahu and Gallant are responsible for war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Gaza Strip.

Khan was also seeking an arrest warrant for three Hamas leaders on similar charges over crimes in Israel.

Netanyahu vowed to press ahead with the "just war" against Hamas that began on October 7 when the militants from Gaza crossed into Israel and killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took 250 others hostage.

"No pressure and no decision in any international forum will prevent us from striking those who seek to destroy us," said Netanyahu. 

Since Israel launched its operation in Gaza, more than 35,000 Palestinians have been killed in the fighting, at least half of them women and children, according to estimates by health officials in the Hamas-run territory.

US President Joe Bidenhas called the International Criminal Court prosecutor's decision to seek arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant "outrageous."

"Let me be clear: whatever this prosecutor might imply, there is no equivalence — none — between Israel and Hamas. We will always stand with Israel against threats to its security," he said in a statement.

Biden's statement was echoed by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who said the prosecutor's decision to seek arrest warrants for Israeli officials and Hamas leaders was "shameful."

"We reject the prosecutor's equivalence of Israel with Hamas," Blinken said in a statement.

He warned the ICC arrest bids "could jeopardize" Israel-Hamas cease-fire talks, a hostage deal and efforts to increase humanitarian aid in Gaza.

The United States, like Israel, does not recognize the jurisdiction of the ICC.

The decision of the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court to seek an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant is "beyond outrageous," said Israeli President Isaac Herzog.

In a statement on X, formerly Twitter, Herzog said the decision "shows the extent to which the international judicial system is in danger of collapsing."

"Taken in bad faith, this one-sided move represents a unilateral political step that emboldens terrorists around the world, and violates all the basic rules of the court according to the principle of complementarity and other legal norms," Herzog said.

The decision also seeks arrest warrants for Hamas leaders of the Palestinian militant group Hamas, including political bureau chief head Ismail Haniyeh and Yahya Sinwar.

"Hamas' leaders are oppressive dictators guilty of launching mass murder, mass rape and mass kidnappings of men, women, children and babies," said Herzog, condemning "any attempt to draw parallels between these atrocious terrorists and a democratically elected government of Israel."

Herzog said he expected "all leaders in the free world to condemn outright this step and firmly reject it."

The chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court is seeking arrest warrants for three top Hamas leaders as well as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, he said in a statement on Monday.

The warrants, announced by ICC Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan, would target Hamas political head Ismail Haniyeh, Gaza chief Yahya Sinwar and Mohammed Deif, who is in charge of Hamas' armed wing the Qassam Brigades. 

Khan is also seeking a warrant for Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.

The arrest warrants are sought over war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Israel and Gaza.

A senior Hamas official condemned the ICC's decision in statements to the Reuters news agency, saying it "equates the victim with the executioner." Sami Abu Zuhri added that it encourages Israel to continue its "war of extermination" in Gaza.

Benny Gantz, a former military chief and member of Israel's War Cabinet with Netanyahu and Gallant, also harshly criticized Khan's announcement/ He said Israel fights with "one of the strictest" moral codes and has a robust judiciary capable of investigating itself.

The prosecutor must request the warrants from a pre-trial panel of three judges, who take on average two months to consider the evidence and determine if the proceedings can move forward.

Israel has announced it is carrying out airstrikes on two areas in southern Lebanon, targeting members of the militant Hezbollah group, while media outlets have said four Hezbollah members were killed.

Hezbollah confirmed the death of at least three of its members in separate statements on Monday. Both the German DPA news agency and the French AFP news agency, meanwhile, cited a death toll of four.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said its air force identified a Hezbollah "terrorist cell" in southern Lebanon's Mays al Jabal area, as well as a munition warehouse and a Hezbollah military structure in the Naqoura area.

Confrontations between Israel and Hezbollah have occurred regularly on the border between Israel and Lebanon since the October 7 terror attacks.

Hezbollah is considered a terrorist organization by the US, Germany and several Sunni Arab countries, while the EU lists its armed wing as a terrorist group.

Israel's military plans to expand its ground operation in Gaza's southern city of Rafah, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant told US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan on Monday.

Sullivan was in Tel Aviv, where he also discussed postwar plans for the Gaza enclave.

"I emphasized to him [Sullivan] Israel's duty to expand the ground operation in Rafah, to dismantle Hamas and to return the hostages," Gallant said in a post on X, formerly Twitter.

Israel's long anticipated operation in Rafah has been rejected by several of the country's allies, including the US. Israel insists the operation is necessary to eliminate Hamas, alleging the border city is the militant group's last stronghold in Gaza.

Rafah is currently home to some 1.4 million Palestinians, most of whom had fled to the city during the past seven months of war. It also lies on the border with Egypt.

Two weeks ago, Israel ordered Palestinian civilians to evacuate parts of the city and began troop and tank incursions. However, Israel said at the time the operation was "limited."

Hamas is considered a terrorist organization by Israel, the EU, the US and several other countries.

rt/wd (Reuters, AFP, AP, dpa)