Horror of Hamas attacks ‘doesn’t mean Israel is entitled to commit a war crime’ • FRANCE 24

Israel is under mounting international pressure to spare civilians in Gaza, with legal experts and human rights groups warning that Israeli forces are already committing war crimes in the Gaza Strip, where water ran out at overcrowded UN shelters on Sunday. “Legally speaking, Israel is under the obligation, under international humanitarian law, to spare civilian life,” said Johann Soufi, a former international prosecutor who has lived in Gaza, speaking to FRANCE 24. “Regardless of what has sparked the escalation, there is a legal duty by Israel to respect international humanitarian law,” Soufi added. “It is not because there was a war crime that you are entitled to commit a war crime.”