Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sits next to acting foreign minister Israel Katz, who also serves as intelligence and transport minister, during the weekly cabinet meeting in Jerusalem February 24, 2019. Abir Sultan/Pool via REUTERS

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel rejected as a “theater of the absurd” on Thursday a U.N. report that accused its forces of possible war crimes in killing scores of Palestinians during Gaza border protests last year.

Acting Foreign Minister Israel Katz said in a statement that the U.N. Human Rights Council had “produced another hostile, mendacious and slanted report against the State of Israel ... No one can deny Israel the right of self-defense and the obligation to defend its citizens and borders from violent attacks.”