UN Security Council holds emergency meeting on Gaza strikes

UN Security Council holds emergency meeting on Gaza strikes
November 15, 2012 - 11:23 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net - The UN Security Council held an emergency meeting on Wednesday, Nov 14 night to discuss Israeli strikes against the Gaza Strip but took no action, as Israel threatened a wider offensive in the Palestinian enclave to stem rocket salvos by Hamas militants, Reuters reported.

Indian Ambassador Hardeep Singh Puri, president of the 15-nation Security Council this month, told reporters after the 90-minute closed-door meeting that council members had only agreed to issue a communique stating that an emergency meeting took place and other procedural details.

Speaking on behalf of India, not the Security Council, Puri expressed the hope that the fact the council meeting took place would help to ease tensions in the Middle East and prevent an escalation of the conflict.

"The message that must be taken from this meeting is the violence must stop," he said, adding that the council was prepared to meet again on Gaza if necessary.

Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu thanked U.S. President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden for supporting Israel’s right to defend itself after a targeted IDF assassination of Hamas military leader Ahmed Jabari in Gaza.

Earlier, the U.S. State Department deputy spokesman Mark Toner said, “We support Israel’s right to defend itself, and we encourage Israel to continue to take every effort to avoid civilian casualties.”

“Hamas claims to have the best interests of the Palestinian people at heart, yet it continues to engage in violence that is counterproductive to the Palestinian cause. Attacking Israel on a near daily basis does nothing to help Palestinians in Gaza or to move the Palestinian people any closer to achieving self determination,” Toner said.

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