Israel said that it will not cooperate with the UN inquiry panel to investigate violations of international humanitarian law during the Israeli military invasion on Gaza that ended on Jan. 18.
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense Ehud Barak made the remarks to reporters after meeting with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon at UN Headquarters.
Barak said that the panel, led by South African prosecutor Richard Goldstone, "I don't think Israel has to or will cooperate with this investigation," he added.
Yigal Palmor, Israel's foreign ministry spokesman, told The Associated Press news agency:
Israel had no plans to co-operate with the investigation.
UN investigators
Goldstone told reporters that he is glad to be in Gaza, adding that his team "will work and cooperate with all parties."
"We came here to investigate, to listen and to watch everything related to violations that happened here and harmed the human rights and the international conventions," said Goldstone.
According to deposed Hamas' ministry of health, more than 1,450 Palestinians were killed, most of them were women and children, and less than one third of those killed were militants.
The 15-member team, headed by Richard Goldstone, a South African judge, entered the Gaza Strip through the Rafah crossing on Monday.
The team entered from Egypt after being denied visas to cross from Israel, despite multiple requests by the UN.
The team plans to complete its fact-finding mission in a week, but Goldstone said they were likely to return within a month, before presenting a report in August.
Goldstone's team will meet witnesses and victims of alleged violations, non-governmental organisations and UN agencies in Gaza.
Goldstone is former chief prosecutor at the International Criminal Tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda and lead a public inquiry into intimidation and violence leading up to South Africa's first post-apartheid elections in 1994.
In May, Goldstone had said he hoped to visit Gaza and southern Israel and hold public hearings on whether war crimes had been committed.
Ghazi Hamad, a representative of Hamas, and local UN officials met the investigators at the Rafah crossing.
Fawzi Barhoum, welcomed the investigation in a statement.
"We hope to see the leaders of the Zionist enemy brought to justice as soon as possible as war criminals in the international courts," he said.
International human rights groups, including Amnesty International, have called for a credible and independent investigation of Israel's conduct in Gaza.
They specifically asked for inquiries into the destruction of residential areas and the use of artillery shells containing white phosphorous, which can cause severe burns.
Israel, which conducted an internal investigation by its armed forces last month, says it found no evidence of serious misconduct by its troops. (AFP, AP, Xinhua)
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