Palestinians plead for UN action to stop Israel’s Gaza massacre
"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."
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Why don't the Palestinian authorities act against the terrorists of Hamas? Then Israel will stop it's defensive operation.
I can't believe what Israel is doing to Palestine. Its terrible. I live in Australia and after MH17 we are all alarmed and demanding access to the crash site etc. Then I think about all those poor Palestinian children and women and can't believe that Israel can get away with this genocide.
its all about capturing oil and gas reserves found in palestine. USA and Isreal have the same objectives. kill for Oil.
Hamas is Israeli proxy in Gaza. They were created years ago with Israeli funding, and now they are helping fulfill their master's agenda. Hamas in no way cares about a single Palestinian.
@sharabi: Stop supporting hamas and lets all start supporting Israel and its illegal occupation of land that doesn't belong to them.
Stop supporting Hamas, BTW Israel offered Truce & Ceasefire but Hamas rejected.
There is nothing called international community. Every country is working for its own self interest.
Stop launching rockets at Israel? So you're saying that they should just sit and watch while Israel occupies their land, jails their children for no reason, let them have no imports or exports, close down their industry and none of them should rise and try fighting this illegal occupation.
You don't need international community - you just need to stop launching rockets at Israel.