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EU backs UN Gaza report, disappointing Israel
The European Union backed on Thursday a contentious UN report blasting Israel's military offensive in Gaza, praising its chief author and saying the document is "worthy of consideration."
Israel immediately expressed disappointment at the support from Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt -- whose country holds the EU presidency -- and said it showed that Bildt had either not read the report or misunderstood it.
"It is worthy of consideration needless to say, I think Mr Goldstone is a person of high credibility and high integrity and accordingly his report carries weight," Bildt told reporters in Stockholm.
The report by a fact-finding mission led by former international war crimes prosecutor Richard Goldstone accused both Israel and Palestinian armed groups of committing war crimes in the three-week Gaza war that erupted on 27 December, 2008.