Legal challenge Scale of suffering will make war crimes claims harder to deny

Israel has faced questions about whether its war on Hamas inside Gaza broke international law ever since the first few days of the campaign, when it cut off all food, water and fuel shipments to the enclave.

- Emma Graham-Harrison

As the scale of death, destruction and human suffering escalated, concerns hardened into warnings that Israel risked committing war crimes, including from key allies.

Israeli attacks have killed more than 32,000 people, the majority women and children. Most residents have fled their homes, and shortages of food, clean water and healthcare are so severe that children are dying of malnutrition.

Accusations that Israel is committing war crimes mostly centre on the protection of civilians.

There are also concerns about the treatment of detainees, who include suspected Hamas members.

Israel has been accused of blocking aid shipments, and of collective punishment, as a result of controls on getting aid supplies into Gaza and around the strip.