THE HAGUE, Netherlands -- The International Criminal Court's chief prosecutor on Friday called on judges to "urgently" rule on his request for arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and others linked to the Israel-Hamas war , saying the court has jurisdiction.

“It is established legal principle that the Court has jurisdiction in this situation,” Prosecutor Karim Khan stated in a 49-page legal document.

Khan requested a panel of ICC pretrial judges to “promptly issue their rulings” on the requests he submitted in May for warrants for Netanyahu, his defense minister, Yoav Gallant and three Hamas leaders, two of whom have since been killed.

The brief filed by Khan was in response to legal arguments presented by numerous nations, academics, victim advocacy groups and human rights organizations, either opposing or supporting the court's power to issue arrest warrants in its investigation into the war in Gaza and the Oct. 7 attacks by Hamas in Israel.

In his May request for arrest warrants, Khan accused Netanyahu, Gallant and three Hamas leaders — Yehya Sinwar, Mohammed Deif and Ismail Haniyeh — of committing war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Gaza Strip and Israel .

Haniyeh and Deif have been killed since the attacks. Sinwar, Hamas’ top official in Gaza who was the mastermind behind the Oct. 7 attacks, was appointed the group’s new leader .

Netanyahu described the prosecutor’s accusations against him as a “disgrace,” and an attack on the Israeli military and all of Israel. He vowed to continue Israel’s war against Hamas. Hamas also criticized Khan's actions, stating that the request to arrest its leaders equates "the victim with the executioner.”

Israel is not a member of the court, meaning that even if the arrest warrants are issued, Netanyahu and Gallant do not face any immediate risk of being prosecuted. However, the threat of arrest could make it challenging for the Israeli leaders to travel internationally.

The war began on Oct. 7, when Hamas and other militants attacked Israel, killing around 1,200 people — mostly civilians — and taking around 250 hostages. About 110 hostages are still being held in Gaza, a third of whom are believed to be dead. The Israeli offensive launched in response has resulted in the deaths of over 40,000 Palestinians in Gaza, according to the local Health Ministry, which does not specify how many were militants or civilians.

Many of the legal arguments presented to ICC judges in recent weeks focused primarily on whether the court’s authority to issue warrants for Israeli leaders is overridden by a provision of the 1993 Oslo Accords peace agreement. As part of the agreement, the Palestinians agreed not to have criminal jurisdiction over Israeli citizens.

Khan asserted that the argument claiming the accords could void the court's jurisdiction is “without merit.”

He argued that the legal argument was “inconsistent with the proper interpretation and application” of an article in the court's founding Rome Statute and “misunderstands basic concepts of jurisdiction under international law, including under the law of occupation, and how these concepts relate to the interpretation and application of the Statute.”

It remains unclear when judges will decide on Khan's request for warrants.