Both Israel and Palestinian militants may have committed war crimes during last year's Gaza war, a widely anticipated United Nations report said Monday, decrying "unprecedented" devastation and human suffering.

The Commission of Inquiry on the 2014 Gaza conflict announced it had received "credible allegations" that both sides had committed war crimes during the conflict, which killed more than 2,140 Palestinians, most of them civilians, and 73 people on the Israeli side, mostly soldiers.

An announcement by an Arab Israeli lawmaker that he plans to join a pro-Palestinian flotilla seeking to break Israel's blockade on Gaza caused outrage Monday among the country's political class.

Basel Ghattas, an MP with the Joint Arab List, sparked controversy after he announced he would join other parliamentarians and public figures from around the world in the latest attempt to reach Gaza by ship later this month.

Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas on Sunday told visiting French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius that any new Palestinian unity government should not include Hamas, France's top diplomat said.

The remarks came on the eve of a key meeting of the executive committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) to discuss forming a new cabinet after the government collapsed this week amid a deepening rift with Hamas, the de facto rulers of the Gaza Strip.

Israel's foreign ministry has taken down a video that angered foreign journalists by ridiculing their coverage of the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip, saying it had been "misinterpreted."

"The goal of the video was to illustrate the crimes of Hamas," ministry spokesman Emmanuel Nahshon said on Sunday. "When that was misinterpreted, we decided to remove it."

U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon urged Israel on Thursday to protect the lives of Palestinian children, who have borne the brunt of its military operations in Gaza.

"Last year was one of the worst in recent memory for children in countries affected by conflict," the U.N. leader said, adding he is "deeply alarmed at the suffering of so many children as a result of Israeli military operations in Gaza last year."

The U.N. has closed the last remaining shelter for Palestinians displaced in last summer's war in Gaza, a spokesman said on Thursday, with families seeking temporary accommodation elsewhere.

The July-August conflict between Israel and Islamist movement Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip, left 100,000 Gazans homeless and forced many to seek refuge in schools belonging to the U.N.'s Palestinian refugee agency, UNRWA.

The Palestinian unity government resigned on Wednesday in a deepening rift with Gaza as the blockaded territory's de facto rulers Hamas held separate, indirect talks with Israel.

An aide to President Mahmud Abbas said prime minister Rami Hamdallah "handed his resignation to Abbas", but confusion reigned over when the government was likely to dissolve.

Israel's foreign ministry has lashed out at foreign journalists' coverage of the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip, in a video that ridiculed their reporting, particularly during last year's bloody war.

The 49-second cartoon clip, entitled "Open your eyes about Gaza", was posted on YouTube on Sunday, and quickly drew condemnation from the Foreign Press Association (FPA) in Israel.

Palestinian militant group Hamas on Sunday called for the immediate release of hunger-striking prisoners held by Israel and the Palestinian Authority.

Gaza's former Hamas premier Ismail Haniya appealed for the release of Khadar Adnan, who was imprisoned without trial by Israel and has been refusing food for about 40 days.

Israel on Sunday defended its conduct in the 2014 Gaza war as both "lawful" and "legitimate" in a detailed inter-ministerial report which was roundly rejected by the Palestinians. 

Nine months after the end of the conflict, which claimed the lives of nearly 2,200 Palestinians and 73 on the Israeli side, Israel revealed the findings of the investigation into the conduct of its forces and that of the Hamas militants it was fighting.