NEW YORK, October 8 (RIA Novosti) - The UN Security Council will discuss the Goldstone report on the Israeli military incursion into Gaza at the turn of the year, during the October 14 open Middle East debates, a Libyan diplomat told journalists on Thursday.
It was earlier announced that the UN Security Council could hold an official session to examine the report, which accuses the Israeli military and Palestinian militants of war crimes during the fighting in December 2008 and January 2009, which left more than 1,400 Palestinians and 13 Israelis dead.
"The issue will be discussed during the October 14 open debates," Libya's deputy ambassador Ibrahim Dabbashi said.
"The Security Council is a political body, and we do not want any legal actions, such as an application to the International Criminal Court. We want to discuss it all during the Security Council discussions, and to make a statement on the tragedy sustained by the Palestinian people in Gaza, about the sufferings it has to endure now," he said.
The decision was a compromise between the Libyan delegation, which insisted on calling a special Security Council session to discuss the report, and Western powers, who said it should be referred to the UN Human Rights Council, which established the independent commission, headed by South African judge Richard Goldstone.
Most of the war crimes detailed in the report were on the Israeli side, and the Israeli government has rejected the findings, severely criticizing the report as one-sided. Israel refused to cooperate with the commission, and has said it did enough in working with another UN inquiry, which only looked at the effect of the conflict on UN facilities.
Israel started airstrikes on Gaza on December 27, 2008, in an attempt to stop Palestinian militants firing rockets into Israeli territory. The operation was expanded to a ground offensive, which ended on January 18, 2009.
Hundreds of houses and other buildings, including factories, schools, hospitals and police stations, were destroyed during the Israeli military operation, and the continuing Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip has severely limited rebuilding due to restrictions on the import of construction materials.
