UN investigator Richard Goldstone visits the destroyed house where members of the Samouni family were killed in an artillery strike during Israel's offensive in January in Gaza City. A U.N. team investigating possible war crimes by Israel and Hamas during the Gaza war announced Thursday that it will hold public hearings with the war's survivors later this month in Gaza and Geneva.
Photograph by: ASHRAF AMRA
Credit: ASSOCIATED PRESS

With the UN General Assembly due to take up the Goldstone report on Wednesday, US lawmakers were to vote on a sharply worded but symbolic measure pushing President Barack Obama to fight UN approval of its findings.

"I think the UN report is unbalanced, and unfair, and inaccurate," said Democratic House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, who vowed to "vote emphatically for" the non-binding resolution.

"It's unfortunate that the United Nations deals with Israel, in my opinion, in a totally biased and unbalanced way. And it is the only country in the world, Israel, that has a special focus by the United Nations," he added.

The resolution, crafted by Republican Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, expressed support for the Obama administration's condemnation of the report and urges opposition to its findings in any international forum.

Named after former South African judge Richard Goldstone, who headed the inquiry committee, the UN report accuses Israel and Hamas militants of war crimes during the 22-day conflict that flared up in late December 2008 and ended in January, leaving some 1,400 Palestinians and 13 Israelis dead.

Goldstone recommended that Israel and the Islamist movement Hamas --which rules the tiny Palestinian coastal enclave -- face possible prosecution in The Hague if they fail to conduct credible investigations within six months.

Hoyer said rocket fire from Palestinian fighters in Gaza had placed Israel in "an unfortunate position" and stressed that Israel "is as careful a government as there is in terms of prosecuting its own defense" officials.

On Monday, Human Rights Watch urged lawmakers not to back the resolution, said the Goldstone report "presents an opportunity to pursue justice for the victims in Gaza and Israel."

"Instead of denouncing the report, the US Congress should urge Israel and Hamas to break the cycle of abuse and impunity, which for too long has fueled hatred and hindered efforts at peace," said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East and North Africa director at Human Rights Watch.