UN rights chief Volker Turk has expressed hope that a new Israeli government will “change course massively” and respect international law, as the country’s political future hangs in the balance after hard-fought elections, AFP reports.

“The message is: don’t continue the current course of warfare where you think you are above international law, because I think that’s what we have frankly seen in the current environment,” he tells reporters in New York.

“Israel has its obligations under international law, international humanitarian law, international human rights law, and they need to respect them, and I hope that the next government will do precisely that and change course massively,” the Austrian diplomat adds.