(Reuters) - A U.N. inquiry into possible war crimes in the Gaza conflict will produce its report on time next month, officials said on Tuesday, brushing aside a demand from Israel's prime minister to shelve it after the chairman resigned.
It marked the latest chapter in fraught relations between Israel and the main U.N. rights forum, which the Jewish state and its ally Washington accuse of bias against Israel. Activists voiced concern that Israel was trying to derail the inquiry.
Mary McGowan Davis, already a member of the independent commission of inquiry on Gaza and a former justice of the Supreme Court of New York, will replace Canadian academic William Schabas, a United Nations statement said.
"Her work will necessarily involve reviewing the commission of inquiry's work to date and ensuring that it impartially fulfils its important mandate," Philippe Dam of Human Rights Watch told Reuters. "We hope all parties will cooperate fully."
Schabas said on Monday he would resign after Israeli allegations of bias due to consultancy work he did for the Palestine Liberation Organisation.
Netanyahu said in a statement that following the resignation, publication of the report ought to be shelved and that the Islamist Hamas group ruling Gaza should be investigated rather than the Jewish state.
More than 2,100 Palestinians, most of them civilians, 67 Israeli soldiers and six civilians in Israel were killed in last summer's conflict. more
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