JERUSALEM - Israel urged other countries to oppose a controversial report on the Gaza war when the UN General Assembly debates it on Wednesday, as the army chief of staff said the next battle will again be in Gaza.
Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon accused the Palestinians of "manipulating international institutions in order to hurt and criticise Israel," the ministry said.
"This report damages not only Israel but any peace-seeking democratic state that has to face terror," Ayalon was quoted as saying on Tuesday at a meeting with foreign ambassadors at which he urged their countries to vote against the report.
"The absurdity that the Palestinians are seeking gestures from Israel and at the same time are working against Israel in every possible way must be stopped," he said of recent US-led efforts to relaunch peace talks.
Named after former South African judge Richard Goldstone, who headed the inquiry, the UN Human Rights Council report accuses Israel and Palestinian militants of war crimes during the 22-day conflict that ended in January.
Some 1,400 Palestinians and 13 Israelis were killed.
Israel's chief of staff General Gaby Ashkenazi on Tuesday told officers at a passing out parade that the "next battle will again be in the Gaza Strip."
"We will again be confronted by rocket-launchers hidden among the most populated areas on earth," he said, accusing Hamas of firing rockets from and hiding weapons in public buildings and residential areas.
"We will fight in villages, towns, mosques, hospitals, kindergartens and schools because this is a war our enemies have imposed upon us," Ashkenazi said in remarks reported on radio.
"On the field of battle you will have the same moral dilemmas" as those faced during the Gaza war, he told the officers, adding in reference to the Goldstone report that "the army will always be behind you."
On Tuesday, Arab delegates to the United Nations floated a draft resolution that would require UN chief Ban Ki-moon to bring the Goldstone report before the Security Council.
The non-binding resolution could easily be adopted by the General Assembly, even if the United States and European countries vote against it as expected, as it is likely to earn the support of the Non-Aligned Movement and the Group of 77 developing nations.
But at the Security Council, it faces a US veto threat and is unlikely to obtain the nine out of 15-vote majority to pass. Russia has already indicated its opposition to the report's findings.
Goldstone recommended that Israel and the Islamist movement Hamas -- which rules the tiny Palestinian coastal enclave -- face possible prosecution at The Hague if they fail to conduct credible investigations within six months.
The UN Human Rights Council endorsed the report last month and the UN Security Council mentioned it during its monthly debate on the Middle East on October 13 without taking any action.