The emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) held behind closed doors, failed to achieve unanimity over the war between Israel and Gaza, Al Jazeera reported.
At least 1,100 people have been killed on both sides as heavy pounding by the Israeli military continued in Gaza in retaliation to Hamas’s infiltration and attacks into its territory on October 7. The death toll from Israeli bombing crossed 400, while, fighting continued in Southern Isreal with over 700 Israelis dead.
The United States, a close ally and major supporter of Israel, called on the council’s 15 members to strongly condemn Hamas. A statement needs to be agreed upon by consensus.
“There are a good number of countries that condemned the Hamas attacks. They’re obviously not all,” senior US diplomat Robert Wood told reporters after the session.
“You could probably figure out one of them without me saying anything,” said Wood, in a reference to Russia.
The meeting of the council lasted for around 90 minutes where UN Middle East peace envoy Tor Wennesland gave a briefing on the current situation.
Diplomats said members led by Russia were hoping for a broader focus than condemning Hamas.
“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, said Vassily Nebenzia, Russia’s UN ambassador.
“This is partly the result of unresolved issues,” he said.
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The United Arab Emirates, which normalised relations with Israel as part of a landmark 2020 deal, said it expected more UNSC meetings on the crisis.
“I think everyone understands that today, the situation is one of grave concern,” UAE Ambassador Lana Zaki Nusseibeh said.
“Many members of the Council believe that a political horizon leading to a two-state solution is the only way to finally solve this conflict,” she added.
Neither Israel nor the Palestinian Authority, based in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and a political rival to Hamas, attended the meeting.
However, the Palestinian Ambassador Riyad Mansour urged the diplomats to focus on putting an end to the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian land.
“Regrettably, history for some media and politicians starts when Israelis are killed,” he said.
“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, that there is a path to peace where neither Palestinians nor Israelis are killed,” he added.
At least three Palestinian human rights organisations in an open letter to the UN said that its inaction had enabled the latest violence and meant its members were “complicit” in what had happened.
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”.
