UN hopeful Goldstone mission will enter Israel

Jun 15, 2009, 9:33 GMT

Geneva - The United Nations fact-finding team to the Gaza Strip had 'not lost hope' that it would be able to visit Israel even with the Jewish state's objection to the mission, the president of the Human Rights Council said Monday.

The UN mission was appointed to investigate rights violations in Israel and Gaza during the armed conflict in December-January.

The team, headed by South African jurist Richard Goldstone, the former chief prosecutor at the international war crimes tribunals for Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia, visited the coastal enclave earlier this month via Egypt.

Human Rights Council President Martin Ihoeghian Uhomoibhi said the mission's four members had not yet received a positive response from the Israeli government 'to repeated requests for cooperation.'

The mission is expected to hold public meetings in Geneva to hear from organizations from the West Bank and Israel. It is due to present a final report to the council in September.

Israel believes the mission is biased against it and has said it will not cooperate with Goldstone's team.

Navi Pillay, the High Commissioner for Human Rights, said the human rights situation had deteriorated in Gaza since the beginning of the year.

She called for an end to the limitations imposed on the enclave, saying 'ultimately, the blockade and other restrictions that violate human rights must be lifted.'