Washington DC - Former President Barack Obama has warned Israel of the risks of disregarding international law and human rights its war on Gaza following the October 7 attack by Hamas.

"In particular, it matters – as President Biden has repeatedly emphasized – that Israel's military strategy abides by international law, including those laws that seek to avoid, to every extent possible, the death or suffering of civilian populations," Barack Obama wrote on Medium.

Already, close to 6,000 people have been killed in the bombardment of Gaza, many of them children, Obama pointed out, adding that hundreds of thousands in the region have been displaced.

Obama went on to write that after the "unspeakable brutality" of Hamas, Israel had the right to defend its citizens against such violence, but "the world is watching closely."

"The Israeli government's decision to cut off food, water and electricity to a captive civilian population threatens not only to worsen a growing humanitarian crisis; it could further harden Palestinian attitudes for generations, erode global support for Israel, play into the hands of Israel’s enemies, and undermine long term efforts to achieve peace and stability in the region," Obama added.

In a rare criticism of Israeli settler politics from a prominent US figure, he also highlighted that many Palestinians "continue to be forcibly displaced by a settler movement that too often has received tacit or explicit support from the Israeli government."

Finally, Obama argued that "it is possible for people of good will to champion Palestinian rights and oppose certain Israeli government policies in the West Bank and Gaza without being anti-semitic."