The 15 council members have already received copies of the 575-page report by an expert panel chaired by South African Judge Richard Goldstone. But the General Assembly in a resolution adopted on Thursday asks the secretary-general to transmit it, which will make the report an official Security Council document.

The Goldstone report recommended that the Security Council require both sides to carry out credible investigations into alleged abuses during the Gaza conflict, in which 13 Israelis and almost 1,400 Palestinians, including hundreds of civilians, were killed, and thousands wounded, and to follow that up with action in their courts within three months.