Palestinians plead for UN action to stop Israel’s Gaza massacre

UNITED NATIONS/UNITED STATES: The Palestinian envoy to the United Nations held up photographs of children slain in Gaza and read out names of the dead on Tuesday as he pleaded for action from the Security Council.

"On behalf of the Palestinian people, we ask: What is the international community doing to stop this bloodletting, to stop Israel's atrocities?" Riyad Mansour said during a debate on the Gaza crisis.

Wearing a black ribbon, he showed photographs of families overcome with grief and of children's corpses, and read out the names of young victims who lost their lives. "Umama Al-Hayyeh, age 9; Dima Isleem, age 2; Mohamad Ayyad, age 2; Rahaf Abu Jumaa, age 4..."

During an emergency session on Sunday, the Security Council called for an immediate ceasefire and demanded protection for civilians, but it fell short of taking the stronger step of adopting a formal resolution.

"Without decisive action, the Council's resolutions and statements ring hollow as defenseless civilians find no relief from the murderous Israeli war machine," said Mansour.

Jordan submitted a draft resolution that called for an immediate ceasefire, protection for civilians and the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Gaza Strip.

The draft text, seen by AFP, calls for lifting the Israeli blockade of Gaza and renewed efforts to achieve a two-state peace deal for Israel and Palestine.

It remained unclear when the measure would come up for discussion before the divided Council, with the United States expected to raise objections over the text.

Envoys from some 60 countries lined up to address the Security Council as Israel kept up its barrage of shells and air strikes and Hamas militants hit back with rockets, pushing the Palestinian death toll to more than 600 in a conflict now in its third week.

Israel's deputy envoy asserted that his country was acting in self-defense against Hamas, which it accused of using Palestinian casualties as "fuel for a propaganda machine."

"This is not a war we chose. It was our last resort," said David Roet, who added that Israel had accepted ceasefire offers, unlike Hamas which has rejected a truce.

Arab countries however questioned Israel's claim that it was acting in self-defense, pointing to the heavy toll among Palestinian civilians, in particular women and children.

"The Torah says an eye for an eye. It never claimed 100 eyes for just one," said Egypt's Ambassador Mootaz Ahmadein Khalil.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon told the Council by videolink from Ramallah that his efforts to secure a ceasefire had reached a "highly sensitive moment" and voiced hope for results "in the very near future."

#UNSG Ban Ki-moon meets with senior Palestinian leaders in Ramallah to discuss current situation in #Gaza pic.twitter.com/ChyLP7Ve8o

— UN Spokesperson (@UN_Spokesperson) July 22, 2014

World leaders have expressed alarm over the rising death toll, with US Secretary of State John Kerry also holding talks in Cairo to shore up Egypt's efforts to broker a truce.

US Ambassador Samantha Power warned that the humanitarian crisis could worsen in Gaza and stressed that "the only solution is an immediate ceasefire."

More than 100,000 Palestinians have fled their homes and are sheltering in schools run by the UN relief agency UNRWA.

LATEST: #Gaza Emergency Situation Report (as of 22 July, 1500 hrs), http://t.co/HYaJRIFELh

— UN Humanitarian (@UNOCHA) July 22, 2014

Outcry after British MP tweets he would fire rockets at Israel

A British lawmaker was criticised Wednesday for tweeting that he would fire rockets at Israel if he lived in Palestinian territory.

"The big question is - if I lived in Gaza would I fire a rocket? - probably yes," Liberal Democrat member of parliament David Ward tweeted.

Ward has previously been suspended from the junior party in Britain's coalition because of remarks about the Jewish state.

Israel has waged a blistering 16-day bombardment of Gaza which has left 630 Palestinians and 29 Israelis, in an effort to stop Islamist movement Hamas from raining rockets into the country.

Some on social media called on party leader Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg to suspend Ward from the Liberal Democrats, while others described the comment as an incitement to violence.

The party distanced itself from the comments and said Clegg had long called for a peaceful solution to the conflict.

"We utterly condemn David Ward's comments, they are not representative of the Liberal Democrats," the party said in a statement.

"The party takes this matter very seriously and will treat it as a disciplinary issue."