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UN Security Council set for extraordinary session on Gaza situation

Representatives of the five permanent UN Security Council members are expected to call on the Israeli and Palestinian conflicting parties to declare an immediate ceasefire

UN, July 28. /ITAR-TASS/. The UN Security Council will gather in New York for an extraordinary session on Sunday midnight local time (4:00 GMT Monday) to discuss the armed standoff in Gaza, an anonymous source in the international organization told Itar-Tass.

According to the source, representatives of the five permanent UN Security Council members (Russia, China, France, Britain and the United States) participating in the extraordinary session are expected to call on the Israeli and Palestinian conflicting parties to declare an immediate ceasefire.

Similar call was voiced earlier by US President Barack Obama, who spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday urging an “immediate” and “unconditional” ceasefire in the region.

On Sunday, Palestinian media reported that the radical Palestinian movement Hamas agreed to the UN proposal on a 24-hour humanitarian truce in the region.

The Israeli Security Cabinet decided on Saturday night to meet the UN request and agree to a 24-hour extension of the 12-hour humanitarian ceasefire, which had started in the Gaza Strip at 09:00 a.m. Moscow time (05:00 a.m. GMT) on Saturday, until 9:00 p.m. Moscow time (5:00 a.m. GMT) on Sunday. However, Hamas rejected the truce extension and its militants continued to deliver rocket and mortar fire against Israel.

The Israeli army reported that seven rockets had been fired from the Palestinian enclave on Israel on Sunday morning. Two of them were intercepted by Israel’s Iron Dome air defense system while the other five exploded on the Israeli territory.

A rocket that exploded in the town of Petah Tikva in central Israel wounded one Israeli citizen. Another three rockets were fired by Hamas militants on Israel on Saturday night.

Mortar fire by Palestinian militants on Saturday killed one and wounded another Israeli serviceman.

Hamas militants set a course for liberation of Israel-occupied Palestinian territories right from the start of their activity on December 14, 1987. The group has made a few dozen terrorist attacks against military and civilian facilities of Israel.

Hamas regularly shells Israel’s territory with homemade rockets. In response, Israel shells Gaza and holds military operations there to suppress militant activity and destroy Hamas’ military structure. According to Hamas, 1,365 Israelis died in 1987-2011 in terrorist attacks made by its militants.