An international conference in support of Palestinians, which is to focus on Israeli war crimes in Gaza, has begun in the Iranian capital.

Bringing together legal experts from the world's leading rights groups, the conference started work in Tehran on Wednesday morning.

The two-day event is expected to focus on war crimes and crimes against humanity carried out by Israel during its three-week military campaign in the Gaza Strip (December, 2008 to January, 2009).

Palestine: Manifestation of Resistance, Gaza: Victim of Crimes welcomes senior officials from the main Palestinian groups, such as Hamas, Fatah and Islamic Jihad.

Legal experts, politicians and religious figures who have come together for the conference will discuss ways to bring Israel's top political and military leaders to trial over the atrocities committed in Gaza.

Discussion on a series of documents, which Iran has allegedly sent to Interpol implicating 15 Israeli officials, are also expected to be on the agenda.

Tehran's prosecutor general Saeed Mortazavi has announced that Iran had referred the case to Interpol on Sunday and called on the organization to issue arrest warrants for 15 Israeli individuals, including Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Defense Minister Ehud Barak, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and Chief of the General Staff Lt. Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi.

Israel has come under heavy international criticism over the way it conducted its military offensive in Gaza. During the onslaught, Tel Aviv targeted schools, mosques, hospitals, UN buildings, journalists and medics.

It flagrantly used banned weapons such as phosphorous bombs against the coastal region's civilian population and prevented aid workers from reaching bombed areas to recover the injured.

The Israeli military operations in Gaza killed over 1330 Palestinians, injured more than 5,450 people and left over 70,000 homeless. Three Israeli civilians were killed during the conflict.

MJ/JG/AA