**The United Nations general assembly is deciding whether to endorse a controversial report alleging war crimes by Israel and Hamas.**The report, compiled by Judge Richard Goldstone, urged both Israel and the Palestinians to set up investigations.
The UN debate comes a day after the US House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly to condemn the report.
The US lawmakers approved a non-binding resolution calling the report “irredeemably biased”.
A draft resolution being considered by the General Assembly calls for independent investigations of alleged war crimes within three months and for possible Security Council action if Israel and the Palestinians fail to do so.
General Assembly resolutions are not legally binding - unlike Security Council resolutions.
The report accuses Israel of using “disproportionate force” in Gaza
Key extracts from UN statement
The Goldstone report accuses both Israel and Hamas militants of committing war crimes.
The Palestinian UN observer Riyad Mansour said the draft resolution was “balanced and very responsible”.
Israel, which refused to co-operate with Judge Goldstone’s probe, has rejected his findings, but has been under pressure to set up an independent investigation into the allegations.
The draft text endorses a UN Human Rights Council resolution, which last month was backed by 25 member states; six voted against it.
Both Israel and the US said endorsing the report would set back Middle East peace efforts.
‘White flags’
Palestinians and human rights groups say more than 1,400 Gazans were killed in the 22-day conflict that ended in January, but Israel puts the figure at 1,166. Thirteen Israelis, including three civilians, were killed.
The UN debate also comes as an Israeli human rights organisation criticised investigations being carried out by the Israeli military.
B’tselem said 13 of 23 military police investigations under way were based on information it and two other rights organisations had gathered.
Three of the cases concerned civilians allegedly killed while holding white flags, and four were cases where Gazans were said to have been used as human shields.
B’tselem said the investigations were not sufficient because they “only relate to isolated incidents in which a suspicion exists that soldiers breached military orders”.
“To date, not one investigation has been opened regarding Israel’s policy during the operation, on matters such as the selection of targets, the open-fire orders given to soldiers, the legality of the weapons used, the balance between injury to civilians and military advantage, and so forth,” it said.