MOSCOW, October 25. /TASS/. Certain political forces in the West have proven incapable of producing a UN Security Council (UNSC) resolution calling for a ceasefire and settlement to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict even after reports have appeared that thousands of children have been slaughtered in the Gaza Strip, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said.

Commenting in a Sputnik Radio broadcast on UNICEF data confirming that over 2,300 children have been killed in the Gaza Strip since the conflict escalated, Zakharova noted the urgent need to approve a UNSC resolution on the matter. "This is the most obvious and rather simple thing to do in this situation: simply to produce a statement, a resolution, a document with a unified call for a ceasefire, settling the situation and so on. And even these numbers cannot compel certain political forces in the West to come to their senses and realize what is going on," the diplomat said.

According to UNICEF, more than 2,300 children have died and over 5,300 sustained wounds in the Gaza Strip during the 18 days since the long-simmering conflict escalated into a renewed bout of violence. According to a statement by the organization, more than 400 children are being killed or wounded daily in incessant shelling attacks on the enclave.

Tensions flared up again in the Middle East on October 7 when militants from the Gaza-based Palestinian radical group Hamas staged a surprise incursion into 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 on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem’s Old City. In response, Israel has announced a total blockade of the Gaza Strip, home to 2.3 million Palestinians, and began delivering air strikes on the enclave and certain parts of Lebanon and Syria. Clashes are underway in the West Bank as well.