Geneva - The former chief prosecutor of the international courts for Yugoslavia and Rwanda, Richard Goldstone, is to head a fact finding mission to investigate human rights violations in the Gaza Strip, the United Nations announced Friday .

Other members of the mission, to look into violations during the recent Israeli offensive in the coastal enclave, will include Hina Jilani, a Pakistani jurist and former envoy of the UN's secretary general for human rights defenders and Christine Chinkin, a professor of international law at the University of London.

Desmond Travers, a former colonel with the Irish armed forces, will also join.

The appointment, by Martin Ihoeghian Uhomoibhi, the president of the Human Rights Council, came following a special session in January during which the 47 member states agreed to send a mission to Gaza. (dpa)