UN Chief heads to Israel, Palestine in peace bid
July 18, 2014, 10:46 pm

A UN spokesperson told the Security Council Friday that Ban Ki-Moon would travel to the Middle East to mediate between the Israelis and Palestinians [Xinhua]

Palestinian ambassador Riyad Mansour called Israel’s aerial assaults and land operations in Gaza “savage” aggression, not self-defense, that “could not be justified by any means”.

“It is a vengeful military aggression intentionally planned and perpetrated by the occupying power on the civilian population under its occupation,” he added.

Mansour also threatened to take the issue beyond the Security Council if it failed to act to halt Israeli attacks.

“Should our peaceful, diplomatic and political efforts in this regard fail, we will have no recourse but to turn to the judicial bodies of the United Nations and the international system,” Mansour told the council.

But Israeli Ambassador Ron Prosor blamed Hamas for the civilian casualties, saying the Islamist group was using ambulances filled with children “to move their terrorists around Gaza.”

He said Hamas “lives by violence and celebrates death. I want to be clear, our forces are fighting in Gaza, but they are not fighting the people of Gaza.”

The UNSC meeting was called by the Jordanian delegation – the only Arab representation on the 15-member Council, late on Thursday a few hours after Israel announced its ground invasion of the Gaza Strip was underway.

More than 291 Palestinians have been killed and at least 1,200 injured since Israel began Operation Protective Edge to destroy homemade rocket sites and weaken Hamas in Gaza ten days ago.

An announcement was made during the session that UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is also due to fly to Israel and Palestine on Saturday in a bid to mediate a ceasefire to the violence that has also killed one Israeli and injured dozens of others.

Last week, the UNSC unanimously called for a cease-fire in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, de-escalation of the violence, restoration of calm and a resumption of direct negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians aimed at achieving a comprehensive peace agreement based on a two-state solution.

Source: Agencies