The UN Human Rights Council voted Friday to send a team of international war crimes investigators to probe the deadly shootings of Gaza protesters by Israeli forces.

According to Agence France Presse, the UN's top human rights body voted through a resolution calling on the council to "urgently dispatch an independent, international commission of inquiry" -- the UN rights council's highest-level of investigation.

Only two of the council's 47 members voted against the resolution, while 29 voted in favor and 14 abstained.

Opening the special session earlier Friday, UN rights chief Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein slammed the "wholly disproportionate" use of force by Israeli troops and backed the call for an international probe.

"Nobody has been made safer by the horrific events of the past week," he said.

In Saudi Arabia's speech at the special session, Ambassador Dr. Abdulaziz bin Mohammed Al-Wasel confirmed the Kingdom's firm stance on the Palestinian cause and its support for the Palestinians in the restoration of their legitimate rights in line with international resolutions and the Arab Peace Initiative. 

He called on the international community to do what is necessary and to exert all efforts to put an immediate end to the violence and killing against the Palestinian people, and to urge the Israeli occupation force to implement international resolutions and work on ending the occupation, stopping violations and settlements as well as the confiscation of land and the Judaization of Muslim and Christian holy sites. 

Israel's Foreign Ministry was quick to condemn the UN Human Rights Counci’s vote, saying that the body is biased against Israel and dominated by "hypocrisy and the absurd."

 
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