The UN's senior human rights official has told diplomats that Israel's military and Hamas militants appear to have violated international humanitarian law and might have committed war crimes during their two-week war in the Gaza Strip.
High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay said about three-quarters of those killed in the conflict - around 650 Palestinians and 31 Israelis - were civilians, and thousands more have been injured.
Ms Pillay told the 47-nation UN Human Rights Council that the situation in Gaza requires its urgent attention because of "a strong possibility that international humanitarian law has been violated, in a manner that could amount to war crimes".
She said every allegation of human rights abuse "must be properly and independently investigated".
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