UN condemns ‘Shejaia Massacre’ in Gaza, Urges End to violence
"The members of the Security Council expressed serious concern about the growing number of casualties. The members of the Security Council called for an immediate cessation of hostilities," Rwandan UN Ambassador Eugene Gasana told journalists after an emergency meeting on Sunday.
Jordan demanded the meeting after over 60 Palestinians were killed as Israel shelled Gaza's Shejaia neighborhood, Reuters reported.
"The members of the Security Council called for respect of international humanitarian law including protection of civilians," Gasana added.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon condemned the killings as an "atrocious action" and called for an immediate end to the fighting, urging Israel to “exercise maximum restraint.”
“Too many innocent people are dying (and) living in constant fear,” he said at news conference in Doha.
As Israel heavily shelled Gaza's eastern suburb of Shejaia battling the alleged Hamas militants in the bloodiest fighting in the 13-day offensive, officials said 35,000 people fled the fighting in Gaza on Sunday as the artillery bombardment began.
Inside the shelled neighborhoods, scores of people lay dead, others were wounded with scenes of entire buildings destroyed. Houses were still ablaze from the IDF onslaught, with corpses burnt almost beyond recognition, with the dead numbering both young and old, including small children.
As the Palestinian death toll soared to 503, a spokesman for the Gaza emergency services said more than a third of the victims were women and children.
Source: RT
