Israel has dismissed a decision by the UN Human Rights Council to launch a probe into its deadly attack on an aid convoy, calling the UN body of no moral authority.

"The authority of this council, which once again is working stubbornly against Israel, has reached rock bottom," AFP quoted said Israel’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Ygal Palmor as saying on Thursday.

A six-ship fleet carrying some 10,000 tons of humanitarian aid and accompanied by hundreds of international activists, the Gaza-bound Freedom Flotilla came under Israeli fire while it was in international waters.

Amid mounting international protests against the Israeli attack, the Geneva-based UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) on Wednesday adopted a resolution which condemned "outrageous" move and ordered an independent international investigation into the naval strike.

The Israeli foreign ministry, however, criticized the UNHRC’s decision, arguing some of the council’s members states who signed the resolution were in a "bad position to present themselves as defenders of human rights," accusing them of "massive violation of human rights."

The Human Rights Council earlier conducted an independent probe into the devastating Gaza offensive Israel launched in late 2008, which claimed the lives of more than 1,400 people — mostly civilians — and left thousands more injured.

A final report by the council’s special Gaza war commission, led by South African judge Richard Goldstone, found Israel of war crimes, including deliberate targeting of civilians and using Palestinian civilians and human shields.

Backed by the United States, Israel refused to cooperate with the Goldstone investigation.

(Press TV)