UNITED NATIONS, October 17. /TASS/. Russian Permanent Representative to the UN Vasily Nebenzya said the UN flag in the Gaza Strip not only fails to guarantee protection to civilians, but also tends to become a target for the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).

"Schools, hospitals and refugee camps are being shelled in different parts of the Strip. The US media are quoting volunteer doctors working in Gaza hospitals, who almost every day - according to their very testimonies - encounter cases of gunshot wounds to the heads among minors from 2 to 12 years old," he told a UN Security Council briefing on the situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian question. "It appears that the UN flag is not only failing to protect civilians, humanitarian workers and civilian social infrastructure, but also tends to become a direct target for the IDF."

"All humanitarian workers, including our today’s briefer, are stating "in unison" that "there are no safe places in Gaza left." And this is not a figure of speech, it is a bitter reality," Nebenzya continued.

In his words, "the number of civilians killed, wounded and maimed, including women and children, is staggering."

"In the past 24 hours alone, 55 Palestinians were killed and over 329 wounded. The scale of starvation is shocking," he said.

Tensions flared up again in the Middle East on October 7, 2023, when HAMAS militants staged a surprise attack on Israeli territory from Gaza, killing residents of Israeli border settlements and taking over 250 hostages, including women, children and the elderly. Hamas described its attack as retaliation for the aggressive actions taken by Israeli authorities against the Al-Aqsa Mosque on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem’s Old City. In response, Israel declared a total blockade of the Gaza Strip, home to 2.3 million Palestinians before the crisis, launching air strikes on Gaza as well as some parts of Lebanon and Syria before starting a ground operation in the Palestinian enclave.