Geneva  - The US told the United Nations Human Rights Council Thursday that it should deal fairly with a war crimes report on the conflict which took place in the Gaza Strip last December and January.

"The report raises important issues and serious allegations and the United States has serious concerns about many of its conclusions and recommendations which are, in our view, flawed," said Douglas Griffiths, a US envoy to Geneva.

He, however, called on the council to look into the allegations made into the report.

"The report looks at allegations on all sides of the conflict, and this body must do the same," he said, telling council members that "fairness must be a hallmark of our approach to this report."

Israel has said that if the UN moved forward with the report it would hamper peace efforts.

Griffiths also called on the council for "an acknowledgment of Israel's fundamental right to self-defense."

The US joined the 47-member council this year, after the previous administration shunned the body.

The council was debating a war crimes report written by South African war crimes prosecutor Richard Goldstone and three other international experts, which concluded that both Israel and the Hamas movement likely committed war crimes and possibly even crimes against humanity during their three weeks of fighting last December and January.

Israel has rejected the mission and the report as "biased."  dpa