U.N. rights council backs Gaza 'war crimes' report

JERUSALEM (CNN) -- The United Nations Council for Human Rights approved a controversial report Friday which accuses Israel and Hamas of "actions amounting to war crimes, possibly crimes against humanity" during the December-January war in Gaza.

Israel's military campaign in Gaza, called Operation Cast Lead, lasted three weeks.

The report, based on a fact-finding mission led by former South African jurist Richard Goldstone, calls for both parties to independently investigate the alleged human rights violations cited in the report.

Friday's vote at the meeting in Geneva, Switzerland, was 25-6, with 11 abstentions.

The hostilities began December 27, 2008, when Israel launched an offensive against Gaza militants for their ongoing firing of rockets against southern Israeli towns. The fighting ended January 18.

The council plans to forward the endorsed report to the U.N. General Assembly for its consideration. The report asks the U.N. Security Council to monitor the probes. If that group decides the investigations have not been done satisfactorily within six months, the report recommends that they refer the issue to the International Criminal Court in The Hague.

Israel rejected the resolution, calling it "one-sided," and noted there were fewer favorable votes Friday than when the council voted to set up the Goldstone mission.

"Israel expresses its gratitude to those states which supported its position, and to those which, through their vote, expressed their opposition to this unjust Resolution which ignores the murderous attacks perpetrated by the Hamas and other terrorist organizations against Israeli civilians," the Israeli government said in a written statement.

"The Resolution also ignores the unprecedented precautions taken by Israeli forces in order to avoid harming civilians, as well as the cynical exploitation of civilians as human shields by the terrorist groups.