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There is evidence that both Israeli and Palestinian forces committed war crimes in the recent Gaza conflict, the official UN report says. The report criticises Israel for using "disproportionate force" and "collective punishment " during the three-week assault ending January 2009. The document also said both sides possibly committed crimes. Palestinian groups say more than 1,400 Gazans were killed, but Israel puts the figure at 1,166. Israel, which had refused to co-operate with the UN fact-finding team, said the report was "clearly one-sided". It reiterated that it was "committed to acting fully in accordance with international law and to examining any allegations of wrongdoing by its forces". The investigation, led by South African judge Richard Goldstone, found evidence "indicating serious violations of international human rights and humanitarian law were committed by Israel during the Gaza conflict", a UN statement said. Israel also "committed actions amounting to war crimes, and possibly crimes against humanity". The report accuses Israel of imposing "a blockade which amounted to collective punishment" in the lead-up to the conflict. "The report concludes that the Israeli military operation was directed at the people of Gaza as a whole, in furtherance of an overall and continuing policy aimed at punishing the Gaza population, and in a deliberate policy of disproportionate force aimed at the civilian population," said the statement. The report found there was also evidence that Palestinian armed groups committed war crimes and possibly crimes against humanity in their repeated rockets and mortars attacks on Israel. [News source: BBC]