World
UNSC holds urgent meeting over Middle East unrest
The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) is holding an urgent meeting on Wednesday (today) over the deadly unrest playing out between Israel and the Palestinians, the second such session within three days.
As per details, the closed-door meeting has been requested by Tunisia, Norway and China.
Previously the meeting was held on Monday and ended without any joint statement with the United States.
Meanwhile, leader of the Palestinian group Hamas, Ismail Haniyeh, has vowed that if Israel wants to escalate, we are ready for it.
On the other hand, the United Nations Envoy for the Middle East Peace, Tor Wennesland, has warned that Israel and Hamas are escalating towards a full-scale war.
In a Tweet, he said the cost of war in Gaza is devastating and is being paid by ordinary people.
The envoy said the United Nations is working with all sides to restore calm.
He appealed to the leaders of all sides to stop the violence now.
The Israeli military has continued its airstrikes on Gaza, targeting several areas after rockets were fired from the enclave. Following which, at least 36 Palestinians, including 10 children, have been killed.
Following the bombardment from Israel, Hamas also launched rockets from the coastal territory towards Israel as a result of which five people were killed. Loud booms and air-raid sirens were heard across targeted cities, which included Tel Aviv, Ashkelon, Modiin, and Beersheba.
The Gaza-based Palestinian group, Hamas, has vowed to hit Israeli targets in retaliation against air strikes on Gaza Strip and the police attack on Palestinian worshippers at Al Aqsa Mosque.
The rocket fire came after Hamas, which rules Gaza, issued a warning to demanding Israel to stand down its security forces from the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in occupied East Jerusalem following days of violence against Palestinians.
Israeli police, in its latest act of violence, stormed the compound on Monday for a third consecutive day, firing rubber-coated steel rounds, stun grenades and tear gas at Palestinian worshippers inside the mosque in the final days of the holy month of Ramadan.
More than 700 Palestinians were injured in Jerusalem and across the occupied West Bank in recent weeks.