U.N. chief says moving ahead with Gaza war inquiry

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said on Tuesday he was setting up an investigation into attacks on United Nations facilities during Israel's recent war against Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip and the use of U.N. sites to store weapons, Reuters reported.

The world body has said that tens of thousands of dwellings were damaged or destroyed in 50 days of fighting between Israel and Palestinian militants, and 108,000 people were left homeless in a long impoverished, isolated territory.

In one incident, more than a dozen people were killed at a U.N. school during an Israeli shelling. Israel has cited militants' use of U.N. facilities to store rockets as a reason for targeting them.

Speaking at a monthly meeting of the U.N. Security Council on the Middle East, Ban recounted his visit to a United Nations school in the Jabalia refugee camp, where civilians had sought protection during the war.

"I look forward to a thorough investigation by the Israeli Defence Forces of this and other incidents in which U.N. facilities sustained hits and many innocent people were killed," he said.

"I am planning to move forward with an independent board of inquiry to look into the most serious of those cases, as well as instances in which weaponry was found on U.N. premises."

Ban's spokesman Stephane Dujarric later suggested Ban planned to move quickly on setting up the investigation.

"A board of inquiry is sort of normal procedure when there is damage to U.N. property or U.N. premises," he told reporters.