STORY: The U.S. House of Representatives has voted to sanction the International Criminal Court.

The measure comes in protest after ICC prosecutors issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant over Israel's military operations in Gaza.

MAST: "America is passing this law because a kangaroo court is seeking to arrest the prime minister of our great ally, Israel."

Republican Representative Brian Mast of Florida defended the bill.

"What the ICC is doing with their arrest warrants is legitimizing the false accusations of Israeli war crimes."

The ICC said it noted the bill with concern.

In a statement to Reuters, the ICC said, "The court firmly condemns any and all actions intended to threaten the court and its officials, undermine its judicial independence and its mandate and deprive millions of victims of international atrocities across the world of justice and hope."

In November, ICC judges said there were reasonable grounds to believe Netanyahu and Gallant were criminally responsible for acts including murder, persecution and starvation as a weapon of war as part of what the court called a "widespread and systematic attack against the civilian population of Gaza".

Israel has rejected the jurisdiction of the Hague-based court and denies war crimes in Gaza.

The court also issued warrants for a number of leaders of the Palestinian militant group Hamas, which led a surprise attack on Israeli communities on October 7, 2023.

Gunmen killed about 1,200 people and took more than 250 hostages back to Gaza, according to Israeli tallies.

Israel's retaliation has reduced much of the densely-populated coastal enclave to rubble, displaced more than 90 percent of the population, and killed more than 45,000 people, according to the Palestinian health ministry.

In a House vote on Thursday, the bill titled the "Illegitimate Court Counteraction Act," passed with 243 voting in favor to 140 opposed.

Forty-five Democrats joined 198 Republicans in backing the bill. No Republican voted against it.

McGOVERN: " Republicans want to sanction the ICC simply because they don't want the rules to apply to everyone."

Democratic Representative Jim McGovern of Massachusetts pushed back against the measure.

"And I want to be very clear here, Mr. Speaker, Prime Minister Netanyahu has an absolute right to defend his people. But there is no international right to vengeance. And what we are seeing in Gaza is vengeance."

The bill's passage was one of the first acts of the newly-seated House of Representatives.

And it underscored strong support among President-elect Donald Trump's fellow Republicans for Israel's government.

Trump's first administration imposed sanctions on the ICC in 2020 in response to investigations into war crimes in Afghanistan, including allegations of torture by U.S. citizens.

Five years ago, then-ICC prosecutor Fatou Bensouda and other staff had credit cards and bank accounts frozen and U.S. travel impeded.

Those sanctions were lifted by President Joe Biden's administration

Trump will be sworn in on Jan. 20 for a second term as president.