Haroon Siddiqui: How can Obama Mideast envoy succeed?

Every day, more gruesome details emerge from the earthquake of the Israeli blitz on Gaza.

Amnesty International says it has "irrefutable evidence" that Israel used white phosphorous.

It quoted a Gaza doctor describing a victim's plight: "After some hours, the burns became wider and deeper, gave off an offensive odour and then began to smoke."

It quoted a girl, a full 16 days after being hit: "The pain is piercing ... A fire is burning in my body."

Amnesty also gave details of victims hit by flechettes – "4-cm long metal darts, 5,000 and 8,000 packed into 120 mm shells, which explode in the air and scatter the flechettes."

Other human rights groups and several UN agencies have accused Israel of war crimes. Israel has denied the allegations and blamed Hamas for hiding among civilians.

Human Rights Watch, the New York-based group with an active Canadian branch, has suggested a UN Security Council probe. It would look into the Israeli offensive and also Hamas rocket attacks on Israel as well as the Israeli blockade of Gaza.

If the U.S. or another veto-carrying member balks, Secretary-General Ban-ki Moon should set up an independent international panel.