U.N. council voices "concern" about Gaza war report

By Louis Charbonneau

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Members of the Security Council voiced "concern" Wednesday about a U.N. inquiry that accused Israel of negligence and recklessness when it struck U.N. facilities during its January attacks on the Gaza Strip.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who appointed the four-person inquiry board in February, said last week he would seek compensation for damage put at more than $11 million but would not follow the panel's call for further investigations.

"The members of the council expressed their concern about the findings of the report," Russian U.N. Ambassador Vitaly Churkin, president of the Security Council, told reporters.

The 15 council members were not demanding any follow-up action from Ban, though Churkin said they had "expressed a general interest to be kept abreast of the progress of the matter as the secretary-general deems appropriate."

Libya, an arch foe of Israel and the only Arab nation on the Security Council, has drafted a resolution in which the council would condemn Israel's war against Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip. But Churkin said it appeared Libya had decided not to put the draft text to a vote.

Diplomats said the draft had no chance of passing, since the United States, Britain and France -- all veto-wielding permanent council members -- would have struck it down.

Instead, the Western powers agreed to back a non-binding expression of the council's "concern," they said.

Israeli officials rejected the U.N. report on Gaza as one-sided, saying it ignored the fact that Israel was fighting a war against a "terrorist" organisation -- Hamas.