UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon tells the Security Council by videolink from Ramallah that his efforts to secure a ceasefire have reached a “highly sensitive moment”

AFP

New York

 

The Palestinian envoy to the UN held up photographs of children slain in Gaza and read out names of the dead yesterday 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 held up 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; Mohamed 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 defenceless civilians find no relief from the murderous Israeli war machine,” said Mansour.

Jordan said it would circulate a draft resolution that was expected to entrench the Security Council’s call for an immediate ceasefire and press for measures to protect civilians.

It remained unclear when this measure would come up for a vote. Jordan, backed by Arab countries, has been pushing for a resolution since last week.

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 fighters hit back with rockets, pushing the Palestinian death toll to more than 600 in a conflict now in its third week.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon told the Security 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”.

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.  

 

Call for investigation

 Palestinians asked the UN yesterday to investigate into “all violations” of human rights and humanitarian law that  have been committed by Israel during its military offensive in Gaza. The draft resolution is to be debated by the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva today at an emergency session also requested by Egypt and Pakistan.

 

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