US Yet Again Blocking UN SC Statement Calling for Israel-Gaza Border Ceasefire, Report Says

The United States is blocking attempts at the UN Security Council to pass a joint resolution condemning the violent escalation of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict for the third time, two diplomats involved in the process told the Times of Israel.

A joint statement criticising both sides for the ongoing violence was proposed by Norway, Tunisia, and China following Sunday’s virtual UNSC emergency session to discuss the current hostilities between Israel and the Gaza Strip – but the US blocked the statement, the outlet reported.

During the previous two meetings, attempts to pass a joint resolution calling for a ceasefire were blocked by Washington, which asked for more time for its own diplomatic efforts.

The US is “working tirelessly through diplomatic channels to try and bring an end to this conflict,” the US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield said during the open session.

A US official told The Times of Israel after being asked whether the US planned to back the joint statement being drafted, that the US is "focused on the intensive diplomatic efforts underway, including those Ambassador Thomas-Greenfield discussed at today’s Security meeting."

Meanwhile, Palestinian Authority Foreign Minister Riyadh al-Maliki said that Palestinians were not going to remain silent amid Israeli's "occupation," as Israel continues to "terrorise" Palestinians who are being denied the same right to security that Tel Aviv is now demanding for itself.

The current escalation of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict started earlier this month when the unrest began in East Jerusalem over an Israeli court's decision to evict several Palestinian families from the area, as well as due to the ban on Palestinians visiting certain holy sites during Ramadan. The situation on the border between Israel and the Gaza Strip has been deteriorating for the past week. As of Sunday evening, some 3,100 rockets have been launched from the enclave into Israel, with about 1,210 of them intercepted, while the Israeli military has lobbed hundreds of rockets at what it claimed were Hamas infrastructure buildings across the border.

These exchanges have resulted in the death of 181 Palestinians, with over 1,200 others injured, while Israel reported 10 people killed and 50 seriously injured.