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Middle East conflict

Russia disappointed over UNSC's failure to demand ceasefire in Gaza – mission

"The scale of this destruction indicates the indiscriminate use of force, the more so as there are signs of deliberate destruction of facilities enjoying protection under international humanitarian law," Dmitry Polyansky said

UNITED NATIONS, December 8. /TASS/. Russia is disappointed that the United Nations Security Council has not demanded a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, Russian First Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations Dmitry Polyansky said.

"We are very disappointed that in all this time the Security Council, which has unique and powerful instruments under Article 7 of the UN Charter, has failed to adopt a clear, binding resolution demanding, not calling on, that the sides stop violence. Pressed by the United States, who warned that any other ‘product’ would be vetoed, the Security Council replaced the demand for a ceasefire with an addressless call for unsecured pauses, which, as a matter of fact, fitted Israel’s logic of continuing the military operation in the enclave and constituted a big step back on the United Nations General Assembly resolution, which was passed by the overwhelming majority of member states on October 27," he said at a UN Security Council, meeting on the situation in the Middle East.

"Today, the Council has a perfect opportunity to put an end to this abnormal situation and do what the international community expects it to do. This means adopting the UAE-initiated draft resolution. We hope that our colleagues will find the strength and courage to do this," he said, adding that the last two recent months have brought "awful suffering to the enclave’s civilians," with more than 10,000 Palestinian children being killed.

"The scale of this destruction indicates the indiscriminate use of force, the more so as there are signs of deliberate destruction of facilities enjoying protection under international humanitarian law," he said.

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