UNITED NATIONS, October 17. /TASS/. Western countries withheld their support at the UN for a draft resolution on the Middle East specifically because Russia had drafted it, Russian Permanent Representative to the UN Vasily Nebenzya said.

"We are deeply disappointed with the results of the vote <...>. There is nothing in the resolution that can be questioned, because it is purely humanitarian in nature, and the only reason why the resolution was not adopted is that they (Western countries - TASS) did not want to support anything that comes from Russia," the diplomat said.

Nebenzya added that the Russian delegation allocated four days for discussion of the draft resolution, but "we received no comments [on the draft]; only one delegation broke the silence."

The Russian diplomat said earlier that the UN Security Council once again became a hostage to the aspirations of Western countries, which refused to support Russia's draft resolution on the Middle East.

The UN Security Council did not adopt the Russian draft resolution on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. Only five countries voted in favor of the resolution, which failed to garner the necessary number of votes.

Tensions flared up again in the Middle East on October 7 when militants from the radical Palestinian movement Hamas staged a surprise attack on Israeli territory from the Gaza Strip. Hamas described its attack as a response to the aggressive actions of Israeli authorities against the Al-Aqsa Mosque in the Old City of Jerusalem. Israel has announced a total blockade of the Gaza Strip as it has been delivering rocket attacks on Gaza as well as some districts in Lebanon and Syria.

According to the latest official data, more than 2,800 Palestinians have been killed since the renewed outbreak of violence, while over 11,200 others have suffered wounds. In Israel, over 1,500 people have lost their lives and roughly 4,000 have been wounded in clashes, including on the West Bank of the Jordan River.