The UN rights office yesterday said that it was pressing Egyptian authorities to let it deploy monitors in the crisis-wracked country.
Spokeswoman Liz Throssell told reporters that the office was seeking a green light to send "several" human rights observers to assess the situation.
"We're calling to have human rights officers allowed on the ground in Egypt so they can gather information, they can talk to NGOs, national human rights institutions, draw up reports," she added.
Last Thursday, UN rights chief Navi Pillay demanded an "independent, impartial and credible" probe into the bloody crackdown by Egypt's security forces, saying anyone found guilty of wrongdoing should be held to account.
According to Egyptian authorities, hundreds of people were killed in last Wednesday's assaults on two Cairo protest camps of supporters of ousted Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in the country's worst violence in decades. The Muslim Brotherhood has put the death toll at over 2,000.