Russia’s ambassador to the United Nations called for a “humanitarian cease-fire” in the Gaza Strip and Israel on Friday, while blaming the United States for the ongoing conflict.
The Russian draft resolution, presented to the Security Council and seen by AFP, calls for an “immediate” cease-fire and the secure release of all hostages, and “strongly condemns all violence and hostilities directed against civilians and all acts of terrorism.” The document did not specifically name Hamas, the militant group that governs Gaza and on Saturday burst through the heavily militarized border into Israel and killed 1,300 people, mostly civilians. Hamas took about 150 Israeli, foreign and dual-national hostages back to Gaza in the initial attack, Israel has said.
The United States has called on the Security Council to condemn the Palestinian Islamists and their attack, the deadliest in Israel’s history. “We’re convinced that the Security Council must act to put an end to the bloodshed and restart peace negotiations with a view to establishing a Palestinian state as it was supposed to do so long ago,” Russian ambassador Vassily Nebenzia said after the closed-door meeting of the Security Council on Friday.
China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi said Friday that the cause of the Israel-Hamas conflict was “historical injustice” against Palestinians, as he met with the EU’s foreign policy chief in Beijing. “The root of this problem lies in the long delay in the realization of Palestine’s aspiration to establish an independent state, and in the fact that the historical injustice suffered by the Palestinian people has not been corrected,” Wang said after holding a meeting with Josep Borrell.—AFP
