Five Palestinian human rights groups on Tuesday slammed UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon for rejecting further inquires into Israel's recent military offensive in the Gaza Strip.

In early May, a UN investigation committee, which was set up to look into Israeli attacks against UN facilities during Operation Cast Lead in Gaza in December and January, handed over a report to the UN Security Council.

The report accused Israel of failing to protect UN facilities and the civilians inside and advised the United Nations to seek damages. The UN chief has said that he planned to seek reparations for the damages, but would not press for further investigation.

The five Palestinian human rights groups, in an open letter to Ban, accused the UN chief of failing to abide by the international law after he "put political concerns above civilians' protection."

The Palestinian human rights associations said his measures "destroy the principles the UN was founded to serve and harm the legitimacy of the international organization."

"The victims in Gaza must not suffer from this humiliation because the Secretariat General was founded to protect them, not to step aside and become schemer with the crimes," the letter added.

The 43-page report reviewed by the UN Security Council on May 13 examined nine cases in which UN facilities and premises were hit by Israeli fire during the Jewish state's major assault in the Gaza Strip in December and January.

More than 1,400 Palestinians were killed and about 5,000 homes destroyed in the 22-day offensive which Israel said was targeting Hamas, which holds sway in Gaza sandwiched between Israel and Egypt.

The human rights groups said most of the slain were civilians and the majority of the destroyed buildings were civilian property.

The letter also criticized Ban for clearly signaling his appreciation of Israel to allow the UN team into Gaza through its territories at the time.

"This comment has serious implications: it serves to legitimize the illegal Israeli closure of the Gaza Strip which has resulted in the emergence of a humanitarian crisis there," the letter read.

The local groups also said some of the cases the report documented "amounted to be war crimes."

On Monday, a wider UN panel arrived in Gaza through Egypt to investigate possible war crimes Israel and Hamas committed during the Gaza war which started on December 27, 2008.

Israel said it will not cooperate with the committee which is led by veteran South African prosecutor Richard Goldstone.

(Xinhua News Agency June 3, 2009)