UN says Israeli forces may have committed war crimes in deadly captive rescue

The UN human rights office has ctied possible war crimes by Israeli forces and Palestinian armed groups following the deadly assault by the Israeli army that freed four captives over the weekend and killed and wounded hundreds of Palestinians

Palestinian health officials said at least 274 Palestinians, including dozens of women and children, were killed in the Israeli operation.

"All these actions by both parties may amount to war crimes," said office spokesman Jeremy Laurence at a UN briefing in Geneva. "It was catastrophic, the way that this was carried out in that civilians — again — were caught smack bang in the middle of this," Laurence added.