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Smoke rises after an Israel air strike in Gaza Strip December 28, 2008. - Source: Reuters -
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A United Nations inquiry team said it hopes to visit Gaza and
southern Israel in early June and aims to hold public hearings in
the region on whether war crimes were committed there in the recent
conflict.
Richard Goldstone, the South African jurist who heads the
four-member team, said Israel has not yet officially responded to
its request to enter the country for the investigation into its
invasion of Gaza in late December.
But the team was prepared to enter the coastal strip via the Rafah
crossing in Egypt, a "second choice," he said.
"One decision we have taken is we will have a number of days of
public hearings. If we can in the region, so much the better, and
if necessary we will have them in Geneva," Goldstone told reporters
in the Swiss city after the team held talks with U.N.
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.
According to a Palestinian rights group, 1,417 people including 926
civilians were killed during the December 27-January 18 offensive
in the Hamas-ruled territory.
The inquiry team appointed by the UN Human Rights Council is to
report back by August 4.
It will also to probe allegations that Hamas fighters fired
rockets at civilian targets in southern Israel.
Goldstone, a former UN war crimes prosecutor, said he had made a
direct approach to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to be
able to enter Israel but had received no official response to
date.
However, he said he was aware of media reports last month that
Israel did not plan to cooperate.
"It would have been our wish to start there, to visit southern
Israel and Sderot, to go through Gaza through the front door, to go
into the West Bank which is also included in our mission," he
said.
