NEW YORK: The UN Security Council met on Tuesday to discuss violence along the border between Israel and the Gaza Strip, following the deadliest day there since a 2014 war.
Kuwait called for the session after 60 Palestinians were killed and thousands wounded by Israeli gunfire amid mass protests on Monday against the US embassy relocation to Jerusalem. The meeting opened with a moment's silence to remember the victims.
Kuwait intends to circulate a draft UN resolution to protect Palestinian civilians, its ambassador to the United Nations said Tuesday.
Mansour Al-Otaibi said the draft would be circulated "most probably tomorrow" and would be designed to protect the Palestinians and "provide international protection for civilians."
"The Palestinian people are looking to the United Nations and the Security Council to activate what this organization has taken upon itself in order to achieve the maintenance of international peace and security," he said.
The US ambassador to the United Nations told the meeting an emergency Security Council meeting on the violence in Gaza, that ally Israel had acted with restraint in the face of provocation from Hamas.
"No country in this chamber would act with more restraint than Israel has," Nikki Haley told the Security Council. "In fact the records of several countries here today suggest they would be much less restrained," she said.
Meanwhile, the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court vowed Tuesday that she was watching closely the unrest in Gaza, and would "take any action warranted" to prosecute crimes.
"My staff is vigilantly following developments on the ground and recording any alleged crime that could fall within" the tribunal's jurisdiction, she warned in a statement to AFP, adding: "The violence must stop."
