Gaza report on its way to UN Security Council

Following the UN General Assembly endorsement of an investigative UN report accusing Israel of war crimes, the report is now on its way to the Security Council.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said on Friday that he would soon transmit the report, prepared by the respected South African judge and former war-crimes prosecutor Richard Goldstone, to the Security Council, which has the power to open a war crimes prosecution at the International Criminal Court (ICC).

"As requested by the General Assembly, I will transmit the report to the Security Council as soon as possible," Ban told reporters after the resolution was approved by a majority of 114 of votes.

The remarks came a day after the 192-member assembly approved a resolution calling on Israel and Hamas to launch credible and independent investigations into the alleged war crimes during the Gaza war.

Israel, the United States, Australia and a few European countries voted against the General Assembly's non-binding resolution which calls for the prosecution of senior Israeli officials in the International Criminal Court at The Hague if Tel Aviv fails to launch its own investigations into the Gaza war under international scrutiny within six months.

The US, Israel's staunchest ally, however, is widely expected to veto any call for ICC action against Israeli officials.

The United States has in several cases vetoed Security Council resolutions that are even critical of Israel, which, in effect, gives Tel Aviv a free hand to violate the rights of the Palestinian population, as well as the territorial integrity of neighboring Lebanon and Syria.

According to UN figures, more than 1,400 Palestinians, a large number of them women and children, were killed and many others wounded during Israel's "Operation Cast Lead" in Gaza at the turn of the year in which Israeli troops purportedly used internationally banned weapons.