UNITED NATIONS, December 8. /TASS/. US deputy envoy to the UN Robert Wood said his country doesn’t support calls for an immediate ceasefire in the Gaza Strip as it would create conditions for another war to break out.

"While the United States strongly supports the durable peace, in which both Israelis and Palestinians can live in peace and security, we do not support calls for an immediate ceasefire. This would only plant the seeds for the next war, because Hamas has no desire to see a durable peace, to see a two state solution," he said at a UN Security Council meeting dedicated to the Middle East.

Wood also said the US is making every effort to free the remaining hostages. He said the scale of civilian suffering in Gaza is heartbreaking.

Dmitry Polyansky, Russia's first deputy envoy to the UN, said earlier that Russia was extremely disappointed that the UN Security Council had not demanded a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip over the past two months.

The situation in the Middle East sharply escalated following an incursion of Hamas militants from the Gaza Strip into Israel on October 7. Hamas has cast the attack as a response to Israeli actions against the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem. Israel has declared a complete siege of the Gaza Strip and started a military operation there. Israel also strikes parts of Lebanon and Syria in retaliation for bombardments originating from these countries. Clashes are also taking place in the West Bank.