GENEVA, Oct. 16 (Xinhua) -- The U.N. Human Rights Council on Friday endorsed a U.N. report accusing both Israel and Palestinian militants of committing serious war crimes during last winter's conflict in Gaza.

    The resolution was passed at a special session of the 47-state council, with 25 countries voting in favor, six voting against and the others either abstaining or declining to vote.

    The council had debated for two days on the 575-page Gaza conflict report, which was compiled by a U.N. fact-finding mission led by South African judge Richard Goldstone, and concluded that both Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas committed serious war crimes and breaches of humanitarian law during their three-week war in December and January.

    The report also recommended that both sides in the conflict should carry out credible investigations into the alleged abuses and, if they fail to do that in six months, the U.N. Security Council should refer the matter to the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Netherlands.

    The United States voted against the resolution at the special session on Friday, but it said it would continue to "focus our attention on our main goal: working with Israel and the Palestinian Authority to re-launch successful permanent status negotiations as soon as possible."