The ICC issued arrest warrants for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant over Gaza genocide.

Netanyahu’s office said on Wednesday that Israel also urged the ICC to suspend the warrants against him and Gallant for alleged “war crimes” and “crimes against humanity” pending the appeal, Al Jazeera reported.

The court said last week there were reasonable grounds to believe the officials were responsible for using “starvation as a method of warfare” in Gaza by restricting supplies of humanitarian aid to the besieged Palestinian territory.

“The State of Israel denies the authority of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague and the legitimacy of the arrest warrants,” a statement from Netanyahu’s office read.

“Israel today submitted a notice to the International Criminal Court of its intention to appeal to the court, along with a demand to delay the execution of the arrest warrants,” it added.

The move has come after France’s Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs said it believed the officials benefit from immunity because Israel is not a member of the court.

France’s view, issued a day after the announcement of a ceasefire between Israel and Lebanese armed group Hezbollah brokered by the US and France, was criticised by rights groups.

Other countries, including Italy, have also questioned the legality of the mandate.

Paris has taken almost a week to come up with a clear position, after the court in The Hague issued arrest warrants on November 21 for the Israeli officials and a leader of the Palestinian armed group Hamas.

After initially saying it would adhere to the ICC statutes, France’s Foreign Ministry fine-tuned that in a second statement on November 22 amid concerns that Israel could scupper efforts for a ceasefire in Lebanon, saying it noted that the court’s decision merely formalised an accusation.