During the visit, Mr. Trump made a stunning announcement — revealed to Mr. Netanyahu only shortly before — that the U.S. would seek to take over Gaza, permanently displace its two million Palestinian residents and redevelop the territory into the “Riviera of the Middle East.” The proposal drew global condemnation, and experts said such a measure would amount to ethnic cleansing and likely violate international law.
The president’s executive order on the I.C.C. comes after Democrats recently blocked a bill in the Senate that would have imposed sanctions on officials affiliated with the tribunal court over its actions against the Israeli officials. Many Democrats argued that the legislation was far too broad and could apply not only to a wide range of personnel at the court, but also to American companies working with it.
In a statement, a spokesman for Senator Chuck Schumer, the minority leader, signaled support for the order, saying that Mr. Schumer believed the court needed to be “reformed,” and had a “bias against Israel.” The statement said the president’s directive left out “problematic extraneous provisions” unrelated to Israel that were included in the bill Democrats had rejected.
The I.C.C. issued the arrest warrants for the Israeli officials late last year, as Israel repeatedly blocked the flow of wartime humanitarian aid to Gaza. The court alleged that Mr. Netanyahu and Mr. Gallant “intentionally and knowingly deprived the civilian population in Gaza of objects indispensable to their survival, including food, water, and medicine and medical supplies, as well as fuel and electricity.”
As part of the same action, the court issued an arrest warrant for Muhammad Deif, a top Hamas military commander, accusing him of crimes against humanity, including murder, hostage-taking and sexual violence. Mr. Deif’s death in an Israeli airstrike was recently confirmed.
The court had also sought to issue warrants for Hamas’s top leader in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar, and its political leader, Ismail Haniyeh, but they had been confirmed to have been killed by the time the other warrants were issued.
Robert Jimison and Marlise Simons contributed reporting.
