MOSCOW, February 13. /TASS/. The Palestinian-Israeli conflict should have been settled a long time ago but the US blocked a resolution on a ceasefire at the UN Security Council, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said at the 13th Middle East Conference of the Valdai Discussion Club.

"Certainly, we proceed from the premise that it was necessary to nip this conflict in the bud. On October 15, a week after the Hamas attack, at the Security Council, we proposed to approve a resolution with a call for a ceasefire," he asserted. "This was blocked by the Americans, then the United Arab Emirates and other members of the Security Council attempted to promote a similar resolution but it didn’t work out. It was only possible to approve a hollow text which called for that very humanitarian pause," Lavrov added.

"It is sad that the Security Council spoke out much weaker on this issue than the General Assembly which approved a resolution with a call for a ceasefire," the top Russian diplomat concluded.

Tensions flared up again in the Middle East on October 7, 2023, 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 declared a state of war readiness; 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.