A bill to impose sanctions on officials affiliated with the International Criminal Court stalled in the Senate on Tuesday after Democrats refused to back it, a setback for legislation that aims to rebuke the court for its top prosecutor’s decision to bring war crimes charges against top Israeli leaders for their military offensive against Hamas in Gaza.

The measure, a direct challenge to the tribunal’s existence, now faces an uncertain path in the Senate. The House passed the measure earlier this month with significant bipartisan support, with 45 Democrats joining all Republicans to support it.

On Thursday, the 54-to-45 vote in the Senate left the measure short of the 60 votes needed to advance. All but a single Democrat, Senator John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, opposed doing so.

There is significant bipartisan consternation in Washington with the tribunal’s decision in May to prosecute Israeli officials while simultaneously going after the leaders of Hamas, whose deadly attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, started a bloody backlash in the Gaza Strip.

But many Democrats argued that the legislation was far too broad, and could apply not only to a wide range of personnel at the court, but also to American companies working with it.

“As much as I oppose the I.C.C.’s deep bias against Israel and as much as I want to see that institution drastically reformed and reshaped, the bill before us is poorly drafted and deeply problematic,” Senator Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York and the minority leader, said on the floor moments before the vote, urging his colleagues to unite in opposition. “It will have many unintended consequences that undermine its primary goal.”

Members of both parties have argued that Karim Khan, the I.C.C.’s top prosecutor, overstepped the court’s jurisdiction when he brought the charges against Israel and inappropriately likened the actions of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a close U.S. ally, with those of Yahya Sinwar, the leader of the Hamas terrorist group, accusing both of crimes against humanity.

Senator Mazie K. Hirono, Democrat of Hawaii, said on Tuesday that Democrats had been negotiating with Republicans over possible ways to narrow the scope of the measure, but that those discussions had failed to yield an agreement by the afternoon vote.

“I think the bill goes way too far in trying to sanction an entity that is supposed to be going after the kind of crimes we want them to go after,” Ms. Hirono said before the vote.

The measure would compel the president to freeze assets and deny visas to any foreign national who contributed to the court’s efforts to “investigate, arrest, detain or prosecute a protected person,” including all current and former military and government officials of the United States and allies that have not consented to the court’s jurisdiction, such as Israel.

“The court’s clear suggestion of moral equivalence between the government of Israel and the Hamas terrorists who attacked Israel and oppress their own people is beyond the pale,” Senator John Thune, Republican of South Dakota and the majority leader, said on the floor before the vote. “Israel waged war against terrorists; Hamas wages war against innocents. And the only reason Israel has been waging war against Hamas is because Hamas chose to launch a massive attack on innocent civilians that resulted in 1,200 deaths and the taking of approximately 250 hostages, more than 80 of whom are still in captivity today.”

Following the vote Mr. Fetterman said that he was “deeply disappointed” that the bill failed to advance.

In a social media post, he criticized the I.C.C., saying that it equated the “democratically elected leader of our special ally to the terrorists and rapists of Hamas.”

Senators Ruben Gallego of Arizona and Elissa Slotkin of Michigan, both of whom supported the bill last year as members of the House, changed course and opposed it on Tuesday.

It was a nearly unified show of force from Democrats at a time when they are having intense private discussions about how to operate as an effective minority in the Trump era, including where they should work with Republicans and when to push back. Some had been quietly pushing for the I.C.C. bill to be opened to amendments so that they could carve out exemptions for U.S. allies and American companies working with the court, and support it.

Others rejected the measure entirely.

“These sanctions will make it almost impossible for the United States to engage the court on other issues and our national interest,” Senator Jeanne Shaheen, Democrat of New Hampshire and the top Democrat on the Foreign Relations Committee, said. She noted that the measure could affect civil servants and their families, lower-level workers and even potentially catering and sanitation employees.

The bill sanctioning the I.C.C. was pushed through the House by Republicans during the last Congress but died in the Senate, then under Democratic control, when Democrats declined to bring it up. Republicans had hoped that now, with control of both chambers and Mr. Trump in the White House, the measure would be on a smooth road to enactment.