Moscow, Russia– Russia intends to hold another UN Security Council meeting on the humanitarian situation in Gaza and the war between Israel and Hamas, Russia’s deputy UN envoy said Saturday.
Russia convened a meeting on the war on Monday but its ceasefire resolution failed due to opposition from four council members including the US, which criticized its draft for not mentioning Hamas.
“We will definitely convene a new meeting of the Security Council. As practice has shown, no one but us dares to do so,” Russia’s deputy permanent representative to the UN Dmitry Polyansky said.
He did not say when Russia, one of the five permanent members of the Security Council, would hold the meeting.
“Regarding a resolution, I don’t know how fast we’ll get to the next stage of trying to pass a resolution,” he added.
He was speaking in an interview on the Solovyov Live TV channel.
Russia has repeatedly called for talks on ending the conflict, which has risked undermining its growing ties with Iran and complicated its relations with long-time partner Israel.
President Vladimir Putin spoke to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as well as Iranian and Arab leaders earlier this week in the hope of launching peace talks.
Hamas fighters stormed into Israel from the Gaza Strip on October 7, and killed at least 1,400 people, mostly civilians who were shot, mutilated or burnt to death on the first day of the raid, according to Israeli officials. Israel says around 1,500 Hamas fighters were killed in clashes before its army regained control of the area under attack.
More than 3,700 Palestinians, mainly civilians, have been killed across the Gaza Strip in relentless Israeli bombardments in retaliation for the attacks by the Palestinian fighters group, according to the latest toll from the Hamas health ministry in Gaza.
It was the worst attack on civilians in Israel’s 75 year history, and coincided with the end of the religious holiday of Sukkot.