The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) has convened an emergency session, following the deaths of at least 58 Palestinian protesters at the hands of Israel’s defence force along the Gaza border with Israel.
Thousands of Palestinians, who rallied over the inauguration of the US Embassy in Jerusalem, have for weeks been protesting their confinement in Gaza, particularly over questions of their right of return to ancestral land that is now under Israeli control.
Ahead of Tuesday’s meeting, the United States blocked the adoption of a Security Council statement late Monday that called for an independent and transparent investigation into the killing of Palestinians, including the injuring of close to one thousand five hundred more.
The blocked statement also called for countries to comply with Security Council resolutions not to station diplomatic missions in the disputed territory of Jerusalem which remains a final status issue to be resolved between the two parties in direct negotiations.
The United States blamed Hamas for instigating the protests which the Israeli military referred to as rioters throwing rocks, burning tyres and trying to set fires across the border with flaming projectiles. The UN Chief Antonio Guterres expressed his profound alarm urging Israeli Security forces to exercise maximum restraint in the use of live fire.
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Britain calls for investigation into Gaza violence
Britain called on Tuesday for an investigation after Israeli troops shot dead dozens of Palestinian protesters on the Gaza border in the bloodiest single day for Palestinians since 2014.
Britain’s Foreign Minister Boris Johnson said he was deeply saddened by the loss of life in Gaza.
Britain’s opposition spokeswoman for foreign affairs, Emily Thornberry demanded a new United Nations security council statement to be drafted simply calling for ”an urgent and independent investigation into the violence in Gaza to access whether international law has been broken and to hold those responsible to account.”
Junior foreign office minister Alistair Burt responded saying, “there should be an investigation into this. The United Kingdom has been clear in calling for urgently a need to establish the facts of what happened, including why such a volume of live fire was used,” adding: “There are different forms of inquiry that are possible through the United Nations and we have to find the right formula, but it is important to find out all the facts” he said.
Burt also called for an easing of restrictions on movement in Gaza and international support for infrastructure and development projects there. Additional reporting by AFP
