UNITED NATIONS (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 16th May, 2021) The UN Security Council agreed to convene a meeting on Sunday to discuss the ongoing hostilities between Israel and Palestine in the Gaza Strip.
The decades-long conflict between the Israelis and Palestinians has this week seen the worst since 2014 escalation. About 1,800 rockets have been fired from the Palestinian enclave toward Israel, which responded with airstrikes. Over 130 Palestinians and seven Israelis have been killed in the conflict.
Upon the request of China, Norway and Tunisia, the UN Security Council had agreed to meet for a third time in one week for an emergency meeting on Sunday. The last time the UN's most powerful body met on Sunday was in September 2017, after North Korea detonated a hydrogen bomb.
The representatives of Palestine and Israel will participate in the Sunday meeting, which will be held virtually.
Reaching a consensus on a date for the meeting was stalled by the United States that initially opposed the gathering.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Thursday he wanted to wait a few days "for the diplomacy to have some effects."
Sunday will ironically mark the International Day of Living Together in Peace, and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres expects that following the Security Council meeting, Palestine and Israel will commit to a ceasefire and get back on track to find a political solution to the border conflict, UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said on Friday.
Dujarric also said he did not exclude that the UN chief himself would brief the council on Sunday.
"I didn't say he wasn't," Dujarric said when asked why Guterres was not planning to participate in the council's meeting. "I just said that we're working out the logistics of who will brief on Sunday."
UN Special Coordinator for the middle East Peace Process Tor Wennesland will speak before the Security Council members on Sunday. In addition, Wennesland was also ready to go to the Gaza Strip at the earliest convenience if needed, Dujarric said.
