A much-awaited United Nations report into the 2014 Gaza war released on Monday found that both Israel and Palestinian militant groups may have committed war crimes during the conflict.
Both Israel and Gaza's Hamas rulers quickly rejected the report's findings, which said Palestinian militants targeted civilians in their rocket attacks, while Israeli forces likely used "disproportionate" force in civilian areas of the Gaza Strip - both identified by the UN committee as potential war crimes.
While Israel long has had a contentious relationship with the United Nations, the stakes now are much higher as Palestinians have joined the International Criminal Court and are pursuing war crimes charges against Israel. Monday's report could play a key role in the case against Israel.
More than 2,200 Palestinians, including hundreds of civilians, were killed during the fighting, according to UN and Palestinian officials, while 73 people, including six civilians, died on the Israeli side.
The UN commission, which presented its findings in Geneva, said the 2014 hostilities saw a huge increase in firepower, with more than 6,000 airstrikes by Israel and approximately 50,000 tank and artillery shells fired. Palestinian armed groups fired 4,881 rockets and 1,753 mortars toward Israel during the 50-day war, it said.