Guterres calls for unified UNSC over Israel-Palestine conflict

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has called for a unified Security Council over the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict and regretted the lack of multilateralism.

Asked what the Secretary-General expects from Sunday's emergency meeting of the Security Council on the violent escalation, Guterres' spokesman Stephane Dujarric said on Friday: "What we would like to see is a strong, unified voice for de-escalation, for a cessation of hostilities and a push to get the parties back on track to find a political solution to this conflict that has been going on and on and on."

Asked for the UN chief's comment on the fact that one single Security Council member blocked the proposal for a Friday meeting on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Dujarric said Guterres is concerned about the state of multilateralism "as we've seen it during the pandemic and as we've seen it in other aspects", reports Xinhua news agency

"We would like to see member states put to action the ideals that we all have to live up to within this organisation," he added.

With regard to the Security Council, he said the more unified the council is, the stronger its voice and the stronger its impact.

The Security Council on May 7 held a high-level debate on the need to uphold multilateralism and all council members came out in support of it.

Yet days later, the US, an ally of Israel, blocked the proposal for a Friday Security Council meeting, according to diplomats.

The Security Council later agreed on such a meeting on Sunday.

This week's violence in the Gaza Strip is the worst since 2014.

It came after weeks of rising Israeli-Palestinian tension in East Jerusalem, which culminated in clashes at a holy site revered by both Muslims and Jews.

Hamas, the militant group that rules Gaza, began firing rockets after warning Israel to withdraw from the site, triggering retaliatory air strikes.

About 1,800 have been fired at Israeli territory since Monday, and some 430 of them went down inside the strip.

So far, Israel has reported eight deaths due to the rockets out of Gaza.

The Health Ministry in the Gaza Strip says the Israeli response has resulted in 119 deaths and 830 injuries.

The last clash, in 2014, claimed the lives of 70 Israelis and 2,100 Palestinians.