The U.N. special rapporteur to the occupied Palestinian territory claimed this week that Israel does not have a right to self-defense against Hamas under international law and accused the country of committing "war crimes."

The comments from Francesca Albanese came Tuesday during an address to the National Press Club of Australia, when she deemed Israel's right to self-defense "non-existent" under international law as she took aim at the war-torn country for its "unrelenting bombardment of Gaza" and other actions.

The U.N. human rights chief on Friday called for an investigation into what he called Israel's use of "high-impact explosive weapons" in Gaza, which he said was causing indiscriminate destruction in the besieged Palestinian enclave.

Volker Turk, the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, said Israel must end its use of such weapons in the densely populated area, home to 2.3 million Palestinians, half of whom have been displaced by fighting in the last month.

Turk did not specify what weapons he was referring to.

Both Hamas and Israel perpetrated war crimes during their ongoing conflict that began just over a month ago, the United Nations’ human rights chief alleged during a visit to the region, calling for an immediate ceasefire.

Volker Türk, the U.N.’s high commissioner for human rights, leveled the accusations against both sides Wednesday while touring the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt, the artery through which desperately needed humanitarian aid has been trickling by truck into the blockaded Palestinian territory.

President Joe Biden’s administration has decided to provide cluster munitions to Ukraine and is expected to announce on Friday that the Pentagon will send thousands of them as part of a new military aid package worth up to $800 million for the war effort against Russia, according to people familiar with the decision.

The US is planning to send Ukraine a cluster munitions package to help in its counteroffensive against Russia, US media reports.

Ukraine has been asking for the weapons for months amid an ammunition shortage.

Cluster munitions - which are banned by more than 100 countries - are a class of weapons that contain multiple explosive bomblets called submunitions.

The Biden administration is expected to announce the package on Friday, the BBC's US partner CBS News reports.

The Biden administration is expected to announce it will send Ukraine cluster munitions for its ongoing counteroffensive against Russia — a brutal weapon that the White House only last year declared could constitute a “war crime” if used.

The US for the first time is mulling sending Ukraine dual-purpose improved conventional munitions, chief Pentagon spokesman Air Force Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder said Thursday, without confirming reports that the decision has already been made.

The International Criminal Court (ICC) has issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The court alleges he is responsible for war crimes, and has focused its claims on the unlawful deportation of children from Ukraine to Russia.

It says the crimes were committed in Ukraine from 24 February 2022 - when Russia launched its full-scale invasion.

Moscow has denied the allegations and labelled the warrants as "outrageous".

The International Criminal Court (ICC) on Friday issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin and another Russian official involving allegations of war crimes around the unlawful deportation of children from Ukraine to Russia.

The arrest warrant is thought to mark one of the first charges against Putin for war crimes in Ukraine, part of a global effort to hold the Russian president and the Russian Federation accountable for atrocities beginning with the full-scale February 2022 invasion.

The International Criminal Court intends to open two war crimes cases tied to the Russian invasion of Ukraine and will seek arrest warrants for several people, according to current and former officials with knowledge of the decision who were not authorized to speak publicly.

The United States and its NATO allies are doubling down on their support for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s assertion that Russia can and will be defeated “on the battlefield.” Over the past year, there has been an open spigot delivering tens of billions of dollars in weapons and other military hardware.