A UN human rights mission investigating alleged violations committed during the war in the Gaza Strip at the turn of the year resumed its public hearings here yesterday.

The two-day session in Geneva follows a first set of hearings in the Gaza Strip nearly 10 days ago that included gruesome testimony of Palestinians caught under Israeli shelling during the 22 day offensive.

The session at the UN's human rights headquarters in Switzerland is meant to allow' those

w'ho were not able to travel to Gaza to provide public testimony, notably witnesses from Israel who were targeted by rocket attacks.

The mission has a broad scope to investigate alleged violations committed by all sides during the offensive in December and January, which Israel said was aimed at stemming rocket fire from the Hamas-ruled coastal enclave.

The mission headed by Richard Goldstone, former war crimes prosecutor for both exYugoslavia and Rwanda, has not been allowed into Israel or been given access to the occupied West Bank, according to the United Nations.