Geneva  - The United Nations Human Rights Council said Tuesday it will hold a special session to debate the war crimes report of Justice Richard Goldstone later this week.

The special session would be held at the request of the Palestinian diplomatic mission to Geneva, with the support of 18 out of the 47 members of the rights body.

The session was scheduled to begin Thursday afternoon and continue into Friday, the UN confirmed.

The draft resolution will support adopting the Goldstone report in its entirety, including the recommendation that if the parties to the war in Gaza last December and January do not investigate themselves fairly, the International Criminal Court should take up the case.

Both Israel and Hamas, the Islamist movement ruling the coastal enclave, were accused of war crimes and possibly crimes against humanity during the three weeks of fighting, which, according to rights groups, killed 1,400 Palestinians, mostly civilians, and caused 13 Israeli fatalities, including three civilians.

The issue of Jerusalem will also feature in the debate and resolution, Imad Zuheiri with the mission, told the German Press Agency dpa.

Goldstone headed a four member UN-appointed fact finding team into the events of the war. Israel has called the report biased against the Jewish State.

During the last regular session of the council, the Palestinian Authority pushed for deferring a resolution on the report to March, drawing criticisms from several key fronts.(dpa)