Secretary-General
Ban Ki-moon has appealed for calm in the Middle East, calling for "bold
thinking and creative ideas" to end the clashes. Israelis and Palestinians
traded blame in the emergency Security Council session.
Deutsche Welle, 10 July 2014
The UN
chief Ban Ki-moon told an emergency Security Council assembly on Thursday that
it was more urgent than ever to calm tensions between Israel and the
Palestinians, warning of an "all-out escalation" unless action was
taken.
"Now
is not a time for further incitement or vengeance," Ban said. "We
must not let spoilers prevail. We must keep the situation from getting any
further out of control."
 |
| Israel's military hit hundreds of Gaza targets overnight |
Ban
condemned rocket fire into Israel from Hamas and militants in the Gaza Strip,
but also issued a clear message to Israel, saying "the excessive use of
force and endangering of civilian lives are also intolerable."
Ban said
that many of the 88 Palestinians killed in Israeli airstrikes in recent days
were civilians, while more than 300 have been injured and around 900 displaced.
"Once
again, Palestinian civilians are caught between Hamas' irresponsibility and
Israel's tough response," Ban said.
Israeli and
Palestinian ambassadors at odds
Israel's
ambassador to the UN, Ron Prosor, and his Palestinian counterpart, Riyad
Mansour, both addressed the Council on Thursday; each side blamed the other for
the latest escalation in fighting.
 |
| Prosor stressed the impact of Gaza's rocket strikes |
Prosor
played audio from his cell phone of an
Israeli air raid siren into the
microphone during his address: "Fifteen seconds, that's how much time you
have to run for your life," Prosor said, calling rockets from Gaza a
threat to 3.5 million people.
"Condemn
Hamas, condemn terrorism and condemn the rocket fire and support Israel's right
to defend itself. This is the only way, but the only way to achieve
comprehensive peace," Prosor said.
Mansour, on
the other hand, said that increased rocket fire into Israel was a response both
to airstrikes and to Israeli reprisals following the abduction and killing of
three teenagers.
"They
started the attack against our people in the occupied territory including Gaza
and the rockets started after that," Mansour said after the Council
session. He said Palestinians would honor any proposed ceasefire, before
claiming "it is obvious that the Israeli side are not interested in a
ceasefire and stopping the rockets."
Israeli
jets struck 300 Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip overnight, part of an offensive
dubbed "Operation Protective Edge" by the Israel Defense Forces.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has not ruled out a ground invasion of Gaza,
also authorizing the mobilization of up to 40,000 reservists.
msh/crh (AFP, AP, dpa, Reuters)
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