Israeli President Isaac Herzog has lashed out at the accusations and laid out his country’s likely defence, dismissing the charges against his country in the International Court of Justice as “atrocious” and “preposterous”.

“There’s nothing more atrocious and preposterous than this claim,” said Herzog.

“We will be in the International Court of Justice and we will present proudly our case of using self-defence […] under international humanitarian law,” he said.

He said the Israeli army was “doing its utmost under extremely complicated circumstances on the ground to make sure that there will be no unintended consequences and no civilian casualties”.