UN, December 9 Russia expects from UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres in the shortest possible time, proposals to monitor compliance with the UN Security Council resolution on humanitarian pauses in the Gaza Strip, First Deputy Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to the organization Dmitry Polyansky said at a Security Council meeting.
“We in the Council have no choice but to double, triple our efforts to develop a solution that would alleviate the suffering of civilians within the limited and toothless framework that Washington and London leave us for action,” Polyansky said.
«It is important to ensure the implementation of resolution 2712 adopted by the Council, no matter how we feel about it. We expect proposals from the UN Secretary General as soon as possible to organize its monitoring. We hope that at least something can be done within this framework,» — he noted.
According to him, one of the options could be to expand the mandate of the UN body to monitor compliance with the terms of the truce. “We expect that the UN General Assembly will again speak its weighty word. We cannot and should not leave innocent Palestinians and Israelis at the mercy of those for whom war is a geopolitical game and a source of enrichment,” he said.
Earlier, the Security Council adopted a resolution from Malta calling for humanitarian pauses, but the text does not contain calls for a ceasefire or truce.
On October 7, Israel was subjected to an unprecedented-scale rocket attack from the Gaza Strip as part of Operation Al-Aqsa Flood, announced by the military wing of the Palestinian Hamas movement. After this, the organization’s fighters entered the border areas in southern Israel, where they opened fire on both military and civilians, and also took more than 200 hostages. In Israel, according to the latest data from the authorities, about 1.2 thousand people were killed, this number includes civilians, soldiers, foreign citizens and workers, and it was also reported that more than 5 thousand were injured.
In response, the Israel Defense Forces launched Operation Iron Swords against Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Within a few days, the Israeli military took control of all populated areas near the border with Gaza and began carrying out air strikes on targets, including civilians, in the strip. Israel also announced a complete blockade of the Gaza Strip: the supply of water, food, electricity, medicine, and fuel was stopped.
The ground phase of the Israeli operation in the enclave began at the end of October. Gaza City was surrounded by Israeli ground forces, and the enclave was effectively divided into southern and northern parts.
The death toll in the Gaza Strip since the start of Israeli strikes has exceeded 17 thousand people, and more than 46 thousand have been injured. Hamas claimed that there were about 200-250 hostages in the Gaza Strip. After the end of the truce, Israeli authorities announced that 126 Israelis and 11 foreigners remained hostage from Hamas, and 110 abducted were released.
The Russian Foreign Ministry called on the parties to stop hostilities. According to the position of Russian President Vladimir Putin, the settlement of the Middle East crisis is possible only on the basis of a “two-state” formula approved by the UN Security Council, which provides for the creation of an independent Palestinian state within the 1967 borders with its capital in East Jerusalem.
The Palestinian-Israeli conflict, related to the territorial interests of the parties, has been a source of tension and clashes in the region for many decades. A UN decision with the active role of the USSR in 1947 determined the creation of two states — Israel and Palestine, but only the Israeli one was created.