Islamic Hamas movement on Thursday slammed the Palestinian UN observer, citing that he did not deny accusations of war crimes against Palestinians in an international report.

The Gaza war report, submitted by a UN fact-finding mission headed by South African judge Richard Goldstone, accused Israel of committing war crimes during a 22-day military offensive that ended on January 18.

The UN report, which was debated Wednesday by the UN General Assembly, also criticized Hamas for committed war crimes by firing rockets at Israeli civilians.

The Hamas government, holding sway in Gaza, said Riyad Mansour, the Palestinian National Authority (PNA)'s UN observer, "admitted the possibility that some Palestinian sides have carried out violations against Israel in the wartime."

"This is the first time that a representative of a people under occupation agreed that his people had committed the so-called violations against the occupying power," Taher al-Nounou, spokesman for the Hamas administration, said in a statement.

Al-Nounou called on the PNA, led by President Mahmoud Abbas, to prosecute Mansour for his comments.

Al-Nounou's call might fall on deaf ears as Abbas' secular Fatah movement is locked in a bitter power struggle with Hamas.

(Xinhua News Agency November 6, 2009)