The UN Human Rights council voted to endorse the report by a South African judge, Richard Goldstone, which accused Israel of committing war crimes and possible crimes against humanity during the three-week war in Gaza in January.

Goldstone, whose work was hailed by leading international human rights groups, found there may be individual criminal responsibility over the killing of civilians.

The report will go to the UN general assembly and could lead to a rare international criminal court investigation if Israel and Hamas fail to mount their own credible independent inquiries into the war crimes allegations within six months.