The UN Security Council has met to consider a UN report by Richard Goldstone on the recent Israeli offensive in the Gaza Strip.

After the meeting diplomats said that the UN report which blasts the Israeli operation in Gaza will be raised next week as part of a rescheduled Security Council debate on the Middle East.

The compromise move by a divided council was agreed in closed-door consultations following a Libyan request, backed by Islamic and Non-Aligned countries, for "an emergency meeting" to consider the UN report.

The Libyan request urged the council to debate the so-called Goldstone report because it reached "clear conclusions" that war crimes and crimes against humanity were "committed by the Israeli occupying forces against the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip."

"This report constitutes yet another record of crimes committed against our people under occupation and its serious recommendations are a significant contribution towards the pursuit of accountability and justice that must be seriously followed up," the Libyan request said.

The Goldstone report charged the Israeli Army with war crimes and acts that amounted to crimes against humanity.

It called on the Security Council to send the case to the International Criminal Court at The Hague.

Israel and the United States have rejected the report as one-sided.

In Washington, the State Department on Wednesday again backed a delay in the Human Rights Council vote on the report.

The Goldstone report was discussed by the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva last month and the body was prepared to adopt a resolution condemning Israel.

(Press TV)