The Israeli government has issued a report concluding its actions during the military assault on Gaza last year were “lawful” and “legitimate.” The report comes ahead of the imminent publication of a United Nations investigation into possible war crimes during the conflict, which killed more than 2,200 Palestinians, the vast majority civilians. The Israeli military has also closed its probe into the killings of four Palestinian children on a Gaza beach. Mohamed Bakr, the father of one of the children, condemned the move.

Mohamed Bakr: “Israel decides for itself what is true or not true. Our children are the same as other children around the world. Children of the Bakr family are the same as children around the world, like children in Britain, France, Germany and America. All the free nations are supporting us. We have the right, and we will achieve victory because we have the right. Our children were playing at the beach. What have they done to be killed in cold blood?”