George Clooney contacted a top White House official in May to complain after President Joe Biden criticised the International Criminal Court’s decision to seek a warrant against top Israeli officials over the war in the Gaza Strip, a case the actor’s wife had worked on, according to two people familiar with the situation.

His wife, Amal Clooney, a prominent human rights lawyer, served on an advisory panel that helped conduct the court’s investigation, which resulted in warrant requests for Israel’s Prime Minister and defence minister and three senior Hamas leaders, accusing them of illegal conduct that has led to thousands of civilian deaths.

George Clooney lodged his protest with Steve Ricchetti, a counsellor to Biden who played a pivotal role in his fundraising efforts four years ago. It had no effect on US policy, a senior administration official said on condition of anonymity because the person was not authorised to discuss the matter publicly.

Nonetheless, Clooney’s decision to contact the White House (in the form of a text message, one of the people said) underscores the problems that Israel’s actions have caused for Biden as he tries to reconcile his support for a stalwart ally with his own misgivings and increased pressure from the disillusioned American left.

To illustrate that dilemma: Clooney is scheduled to appear at a high-dollar June 15 fundraiser for Biden in Los Angeles, with former Presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton in attendance.

Simon Halls, a spokesperson for the actor, declined to comment about Clooney’s interaction with Ricchetti but said his client “has every intention of attending the fundraiser”. A White House spokesperson had no comment on Clooney’s complaint, which was reported earlier by The Washington Post.

The US and Israel are not members of the International Criminal Court, which is in The Hague, Netherlands. After the court’s chief prosecutor announced that he would seek the warrants on May 20, Biden sharply criticised the decision, saying “there is no equivalence — none — between Israel and Hamas”.

In a statement posted on her family foundation’s website, Amal Clooney said she had worked with the court’s prosecutors for four months “evaluating evidence of suspected war crimes and crimes against humanity” in Israel and Gaza. Amal Clooney, a Lebanon-born lawyer, worked as an investigator on the International Criminal Tribunal.