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UNSC session on Mideast escalation fizzles out

KABUL (Pajhwok): The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) has failed to achieve unanimity on a joint statement on the fresh wave of fighting between Israel and Palestinians.

On Sunday, the 15-member council met behind closed doors in an emergency session on the intensifying conflict in Gaza.

US diplomat Robert Wood told journalists after the meeting: “There are a good number of countries that condemned the Hamas attacks. They’re obviously not all.”

In a not-so-veiled reference to Russia, the US diplomat said: “You could probably figure out one of them without me saying anything.”

According to Al-Jazeera, the powerful UN body, which met for about 90 minutes, was briefed on the escalating conflict by the UN’s Middle East peace , Tor Wennesland.

Russian Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia said: “My message was to stop the fighting immediately and to go to a ceasefire and to meaningful negotiations.”

Al-Jazeera reported both Israel and the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority (PA) stayed away from the emergency session.

Palestinian Ambassador Riyad Mansour urged participants to focus on ending the Israeli occupation. “Regrettably, history for some media and politicians starts when Israelis are killed.”

Malta’s Permanent Representative Frazier said: ”We did not discuss any joint statement. No one proposed any text anyway.”

The Pentagon is sending the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford and accompanying warships to the eastern Mediterranean, while boosting fighter aircraft squadrons in the region.

PAN Monitor/mud

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