U.S. blocked U.N. statement on Gaza

UPDATED:

The United States late Saturday blocked approval of a U.N. Security Council statement calling for an immediate cease-fire in the Gaza Strip and southern Israel and expressing concern at the escalation of violence between Israel and Hamas, the Associated Press reported.

U.S. deputy ambassador Alejandro Wolff said the United States saw no prospect of Hamas abiding by last week’s council call for an immediate end to the violence. Therefore, he said, a new statement at this time “would not be adhered to and would have no underpinning for success, would not do credit to the council.”

France’s U.N. Ambassador Jean-Maurice Ripert, the current council president, announced that there was no agreement among members on a statement. But he said there were “strong convergences” among the 15 members to express serious concern about the deteriorating situation in Gaza and the need for “an immediate, permanent and fully respected cease-fire.”

See related story:Israel bisects Gaza, surrounds biggest city

Arab nations demanded that the council adopt a statement calling for an immediate cease-fire following Israel’s launch of a ground offensive in Gaza earlier Saturday, a view echoed by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

Libya’s U.N. Ambassador Giadalla Ettalhi, the only Arab member of the council, said the United States objected to “any outcome” during the closed council discussions on the proposed statement.

He said efforts were made to compromise and agree on a weaker press statement but there was no consensus, the AP reported.

Israel escalated its offensive against Hamas in a ground invasion of the Gaza Strip on Saturday evening, sending columns of soldiers and armor with air cover into the Palestinian enclave for an operation the Israeli defense minister said “will not be easy and will not be short.”

Until Saturday, Israel had limited its eight-day onslaught to air attacks against hundreds of Hamas targets. Dispatching infantry, tank and combat-engineer forces into Gaza’s densely packed neighborhoods to battle Hamas’ soldiers ratchets up the risk of casualties on both sides.

The second stage of the offensive “is necessary to complete the mission,” said Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak.

“The goal is to stop the hostile action from Gaza against Israeli civilians,” he said. “The ground-force operation involves the endangerment of the lives of the fighters.”

Three years after Israel pulled its last soldiers out of the coastal strip of 1.5 million, Mr. Barak told the Israeli public that the return to Gaza would be a difficult operation. At the same time, Israel’s government said it had approved the call-up of thousands of combat reservists as reinforcements for the invasion.

An Israeli military spokesman said the goal of the invasion would be to take over the launching grounds of the Katyusha missiles, which have hit Israeli cities that are nearly 30 miles away from the Gaza Strip border.

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