Muslim countries today called for the UN's top human rights body to condemn Israeli attacks on Gaza and accused the Jewish state of committing war crimes.
Pakistan, speaking on behalf of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC), presented a draft resolution that Israel's envoy promptly dismissed as "political posturing."
The text, which was also sponsored by the League of Arab States, demands an immediate halt to Israeli military attacks on the Gaza Strip as well as the firing of crude rockets by Palestinian militants into southern Israel.
It condemns persistent Israeli military attacks on Gaza and accuses Israel of "inflicting collective punishment against the civilian population, which constitutes a war crime."
Israeli forces withdrew from northern Gaza on Monday, but sporadic fighting has persisted. The Jewish state has defended its offensive as a necessary response to rocket attacks on innocent civilians.
On Thursday, a bomb planted by Palestinian militants killed an Israeli soldier on the Gaza frontier, and an Israeli air strike killed a gunman in the Hamas-controlled territory.
Pakistan's ambassador told the UN Human Rights Council: "Israel has resorted to use of disproportionate force, deliberate destruction of infrastructure and killing of civilians."