Israel: The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) has held an emergency session to discuss the war between Israel and Gaza but has failed to achieve a joint statement.
At least 1,100 people have already been killed since Hamas, the Palestinian group that controls the blockaded Gaza Strip, started an assault on Israeli towns and took hundreds of people hostage. In return, Israel declared a state of war and pounding densely populated Gaza, killing hundreds of people.
The United States called on the council’s 15 members to strongly condemn Hamas. A senior US diplomat Mr. Robert Wood told reporters that “there are a good number of countries that condemned the Hamas attacks. They’re obviously not all.”
“You could probably figure out one of them without me saying anything,” Mr. Wood stated, in reference to Russia, whose relations with the West have worsened since its invasion of Ukraine.
The council met for about 90 minutes and heard a briefing from the UN Middle East peace envoy Mr. Tor Wennesland. Ms. Vassily Nebenzia, Russia’s UN ambassador, commented that “my message was to stop the fighting immediately and to go to a ceasefire and to meaningful negotiations, which was told for decades by the Security Council.”
The Palestinian Ambassador Mr. Riyad Mansour called on diplomats to focus on ending the Israeli occupation. “Regrettably, history for some media and politicians starts when Israelis are killed. This is not a time to let Israel double down on its terrible choices. This is a time to tell Israel it needs to change course and that there is a path to peace where neither Palestinians nor Israelis are killed,” Mr. Mansour noted.
In addition, the Palestine-based organisations Al-Haq, Al-Mezan Centre for Human Rights, and the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights called on UN member states to address the “root causes and protect the Palestinian people from Israeli attacks”.
Ahead of the meeting, Israel’s UN Ambassador Mr. Gilad Erdan showed graphic pictures of Israeli civilians being taken captive by Hamas.
Mr. Erdan commented that “these are war crimes—blatant, documented war crimes. This unimaginable, unimaginable atrocity must be condemned. Israel must be given steadfast support to defend ourselves and to defend the free world.”
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