Evidence of Israel, Hamas war crimes in Gaza - U.N.

The probes should be "independent and in conformity with international standards" and establish a committee of human rights experts to monitor any such proceedings in Israel and the Palestinian territories.

If either Israel or the Palestinians fail to do so, then the 15-nation council should refer the situation in Gaza to the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court in The Hague, the report said.

Goldstone said Israeli efforts to investigate allegations of war crimes by its soldiers had so far been "pusillanimous."

The Gaza war, codenamed Operation Cast Lead, began on December 27, 2008, and ended on January 18.

GAZA BLOCKADE MAY BE 'CRIME AGAINST HUMANITY'

An Israeli human rights group, B'Tselem, said last week that 773 of the 1,387 Palestinians killed were civilians.

Israel has said 709 combatants, 295 civilians and 162 people whose status it was unable to clarify were killed. Thirteen Israelis, 10 soldiers and three civilians, died.

Israel has rejected international criticism of an offensive it said was launched to curb Hamas rocket attacks on its towns. Israel says it is investigating allegations but has not yet found cause to prosecute any of its soldiers.

Goldstone, a former South African Supreme Court and Constitutional Court judge and U.N. prosecutor, led a commission of inquiry into political violence and police hit squad activities in the early 1990s in his homeland.