The UN human rights council has endorsed the Goldstone report on Israel’s war on Gaza, which accuses the military of using disproportionate force as well as laying charges of war crimes on Israeli occupation forces and Hamas, reports Al Jazeera.

The council’s resolution adopting the report was passed in Geneva by 25 votes to six with 11 countries abstaining and five declining to vote.

The inquiry, lead by Justice Richard Goldstone, calls on Ban Ki-moon, the UN secretary-general, to monitor whether Israel and Hamas conduct credible investigations into the conflict which took place last winter.

Should the two sides fail to do so, it calls on the UN Security Council to refer the allegations to the International Criminal Court.

According to Haaretz, Israel’s Foreign Ministry rejected on Friday the United Nations Human Rights Council decision to endorse a Gaza report that accused Israel of committing war crimes, calling the decision “unjust.”

The Foreign Ministry issued an official response to the UN vote, saying that “Israel will continue to exercise its right to self defense and to preserve the security of its citizens.”

“Israel believes,” the statement continued, “that the decision harms efforts to protect human rights in accordance with international law and hinders efforts to promote the peace process as well as encouraging terror organizations around the world.”

Meanwhile, the EU Observer is reporting that European countries on the Human Rights council opposed the resolution or abstained from the vote after heavy diplomatic pressure from Tel Aviv.

In the last few days, Israel, which accuses the document of being biased, has engaged in a furious round of diplomacy attempting to win over the European states that sit on the council to opposed the resolution.

It is understood that UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown talked to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for some time this morning.

Defence minister Ehud Barack spoke to the foreign ministers of France, Britain, Spain and Norway ahead of the vote and brought up the issue with Czech Prime Minister Jan Fisher when he was in Prague.

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