UNITED NATIONS - The Security Council on Wednesday received a UN report blaming Israel for six serious attacks on the organization's buildings during the recent Gaza offensive.
"The members of the council expressed their concern about the findings of the report" commissioned by UN chief Ban Ki-moon, Russia's UN Ambassador Vitaly Churkin told reporters after a closed-door council meeting on the issue.
He added that the 15 members expressed "general interest in being kept abreast of the progress of the matter as the secretary general deems appropriate."
The UN report accused Israel of failing to protect UN buildings and the civilians inside them, and recommended that the United Nations seek damages.
Last week, UN chief Ban Ki-moon said that he planned "to seek reparations for damages incurred by the UN" but would not press for a further enquiry.
The report was drawn up by an independent panel set up to investigate nine cases in which UN buildings in Gaza were damaged by bombardments or arms fire during the three-week Israeli offensive in the Hamas-run Gaza enclave in response to rocket fire into southern Israel by Palestinian militants.
Churkin said that Libya, the council's lone Arab member, was now unlikely to push for a vote on its draft resolution which would condemn "the direct and intentional Israeli military strikes against United Nations premises."
During a visit to UN headquarters last week, Israeli President Shimon Peres blasted the UN enquiry findings as "outrageous" and "one-sided."
Peres said the UN enquiry panel overstepped its authority, noting that it was supposed to probe damage to UN installations but "instead decided to investigate the whole situation in Gaza."
The Israeli president insisted that his country has cooperated fully with the UN enquiry team and conceded that "we made some mistakes."