UN human rights investigators began work in the Gaza Strip on Monday. They will determine whether war crimes were committed during the Israeli offensive Israel launched in theagainst the Hamas-ruled territory last December.

Israel says it will not cooperate with the four-member team, headed by South African jurist Richard Goldstone, which entered the Gaza Strip via Egypt.

“We have come here to see, to learn, to talk to people in all walks of life; ordinary people, governmental people, administrative people," Goldstone told reporters.

Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor said the Israeli government believed the committee had been told "to find Israel guilty even before the investigation begins".

Israel says an internal probe by its armed forces last month found no evidence of serious misconduct by its troops.

Welcoming the investigation, Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said 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."

The investigators plan to spend a week in the Gaza Strip. Goldstone said the group will submit a report in early August.

International human rights groups have called for a credible independent investigation of the conduct of Israeli troops in the Gaza Strip. Israel has been accused of the destruction of several residential areas and firing of artillery shells containing white phosphorus.

According to Palestinian rights groups, 1,417 people including 926 civilians were killed during Israel's 27 December - 18 January offensive in the coastal enclave of 1.5 million people.

Israel lost 10 soldiers and three civilians in the fighting, which it launched with the declared aim of halting cross-border rocket fire by militants. It says 1,166 Palestinians were killed, 295 of them civilians.

(Reuters)