The ICC said it “stands firmly” by its personnel and the order seeks to harm its “independent and impartial” work.

Trump’s order accuses it of “illegitimate and baseless actions”, after the ICC issued an arrest warrant for Netanyahu over alleged war crimes in Gaza, which Israel denies. The ICC also issued a warrant for a Hamas commander.

The ICC is a global court, although the US and Israel are not members, with the power to bring prosecutions for genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes.

In its statement, it said: “The ICC condemns the issuance by the US of an executive order seeking to impose sanctions on its officials and harm its independent and impartial judicial work.

“The Court stands firmly by its personnel and pledges to continue providing justice and hope to millions of innocent victims of atrocities across the world, in all situations before it,” it added.

In recent years, it has also issued arrest warrants for Russian President Vladimir Putin over alleged war crimes in Ukraine, Taliban leaders for “persecuting Afghan girls and women” and Myanmar’s military leader for crimes against the Rohingya Muslims.

The US and Israel are not members of the court but more than 120 countries are, including the UK and many European nations.

Trump signed the measure as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was visiting Washington.

The sanctions place financial and visa restrictions on individuals and their families who assist in ICC investigations of American citizens or allies.

Judges at the court said there were “reasonable grounds” that Netanyahu, his former defence minister Yoav Gallant, and Mohammed Deif of Hamas bore “criminal responsibility for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Deif’s death in an Israeli airstrike last year has since been confirmed by Hamas.

The Netherlands, which hosts the court, said it “regrets” Trump’s order.

“The court’s work is essential in the fight against impunity,” Dutch Foreign Minister Caspar Veldkamp said on X.

A White House memo circulated on Thursday accused the Hague-based ICC of creating a “shameful moral equivalency” between Hamas and Israel by issuing the warrants at the same time.

Trump’s executive order said the ICC’s recent actions “set a dangerous precedent” that endangered Americans by exposing them to “harassment, abuse and possible arrest”.

“This malign conduct in turn threatens to infringe upon the sovereignty of the United States and undermines the critical national security and foreign policy work of the United States government and our allies, including Israel,” the order said.

In a post on X on Friday, Israel’s Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said he “strongly” commended Trump’s executive order.

He claimed the ICC’s actions were “immoral and have no legal basis”, accusing the court of not operating “in accordance with international law”.

The US has repeatedly rejected any jurisdiction by the body over American officials or citizens, and has accused the ICC of placing constraints on Israel’s right to self-defence, while ignoring Iran and anti-Israel groups.

While the US is not a member of the ICC, the former clerk to the court’s first chief prosecutor warned the sanctions could have “a profound practical impact” on its operations.

“The sanctions… do have the potential of freezing property and assets, as well as suspending entry into the United States of ICC officials and their immediate family members,” Zachary Kaufman told the BBC World Service.

In his first term in office in 2020, Trump imposed sanctions on ICC officials who were investigating whether US forces had committed war crimes in Afghanistan.

This included a travel ban and asset freezes against former chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda.

Those sanctions were lifted by President Joe Biden’s administration.

Last month, the US House of Representatives voted to sanction the ICC, but the bill foundered in the Senate.

In response to efforts to what they described as attempts to challenge the ICC’s authority, nine nations – including South Africa and Malaysia – launched the ‘Hague Group’ last month in an effort to defend the court and its rulings.

Trump’s executive order said that “both nations [the US and Israel] are thriving democracies with militaries that strictly adhere to the laws of war”

During his last weeks in office, President Biden also criticised the ICC’s warrant for Netanyahu, calling the move “outrageous” and saying there was no equivalence between Israel and Hamas.

The ICC prosecutor’s case against Netanyahu and Gallant found reasonable grounds to believe that they “each bear criminal responsibility for the following crimes as co-perpetrators for committing the acts jointly with others: the war crime of starvation as a method of warfare; and the crimes against humanity of murder, persecution, and other inhumane acts”.

It also found reasonable grounds to believe that “each bear criminal responsibility as civilian superiors for the war crime of intentionally directing an attack against the civilian population”.

Trump’s signing of his latest executive order follows his announcement during a joint press conference with the Israeli prime minister on Tuesday about a plan for the US to “take over” Gaza, resettle its Palestinian population and turn the territory into the “Riviera of the Middle East”.

After Arab leaders and the UN condemned the idea, the US president restated it on his Truth Social social media platform on Thursday.

It says Israel’s actions include intentionally damaging water and sanitation infrastructure.

The campaign group says this has probably caused thousands of deaths, which it says is also tantamount to “committing the crime against humanity of extermination”.

Israel rejected HRW’s report as “propaganda”.

In a post on X, the Israeli foreign ministry’s spokesman said the group was “once more spreading its blood libels… The truth is the complete opposite of HRW’s lies”.

The 179-page report says that “since October 2023, Israeli authorities have deliberately obstructed Palestinians’ access to the adequate amount of water required for survival in the Gaza Strip”.

It says Israel intentionally damaged infrastructure, including solar panels powering treatment plants, a reservoir, and a spare parts warehouse, while also blocking fuel for generators.

It says Israel also cut electricity supplies, attacked repair workers and blocked the entry into Gaza of repair materials.

“This isn’t just negligence,” said HRW executive director Tirana Hassan. “It is a calculated policy of deprivation that has led to the deaths of thousands from dehydration and disease that is nothing short of the crime against humanity of extermination, and an act of genocide.

“The report is based on interviews with dozens of Palestinians from Gaza, including water authority officials, sanitation experts and healthcare workers, as well as satellite imagery and data from October 2023 to September 2024.

Israel launched a major military offensive in Gaza after Hamas attacked Israel on 7 October 2023, killing about 1,200 people and taking 251 others hostage.

At least 45,129 people have been killed in Gaza since the offensive began, according to the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry. It does not put a figure on the number who have died as a result of lack of access to water or other such causes.

The HRW report notes that to constitute the crime of genocide, alleged actions require evidence of intent. It says the findings, including statements made by senior Israeli officials, “may indicate such intent”.

But, rejecting HRW’s allegations on X, Israeli foreign ministry spokesman Oren Marmorstein said Israel had facilitated “the continuous flow of water and humanitarian aid into Gaza, despite operating under constant attacks of Hamas terror organisation”.

He said water pipelines and pumping and desalination facilities remained operational, and that water tankers had repeatedly delivered supplies into Gaza through Israeli crossings.

“This report is full of lies that are appalling even when compared to HRW’s already low standards,” he added.

The HRW report is the latest in a series of accusations by rights groups and others that Israel is committing genocide in its campaign in Gaza.

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) – the UN’s top court – is also currently examining a case brought by South Africa accusing Israel of genocide.

The Genocide Convention of 1948, passed in the wake of the Nazi Holocaust of European Jewry, defines genocide as “acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group”.

Israel has vehemently denied such allegations as “wholly unfounded” and driven by antisemitism. It says it has not intentionally harmed civilians in Gaza, and that it is fighting only against Hamas.