The UN Inquiry into alleged atrocities in Gaza will hold public hearings in the Hamas-ruled territory and Geneva this month. The questioning will concern victims of the conflict "in the Gaza Strip and southern Israel".

Israel has refused to cooperate with the probe, with the foreign ministry claiming it was based on a biased mandate and sought to tarnish the country's reputation.

The inquiry will begin in Gaza in the third week of June, continuing in Switzerland the following week. Israel has vetoed the UN's hopes of staging similar hearings in Israel and the West Bank.

Mission's chairman Richard Goldstone told in a press conference in Gaza-city he had hoped to have public hearings in the southern Israel and on the West Bank too. “We are not able to fulfil that hope because of the refusal by Israel to cooperate with the mission," he says.

Hamas, which seized power in Gaza in June 2007, announced that it would help the mission to complete its work.

The UN mission aims to complete its report in early August for publication in September.

Goldstone, who served as chief prosecutor at the International Criminal Tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda, refused to comment on the evidence gathered by the mission since the delegation arrived in the impoverished enclave on Monday.

However, he said the 15 delegates have visited 40 sites in Gaza and spoken to 70 witnesses and relatives of victims, including the al-Samouni family that lost 29 members in an Israeli bombing on 5 January.

Israel's 22-day war against Gaza launched on 27 December killed more than  1,400 Palestinians, according to Palestinian officials, and caused widespread damage in the impoverished territory. Human Rights Watch says thirteen Israelis died during the fighting, including 3 civilians.