The United States and Russia have led international calls to end fighting between Israel and Hamas (designated a terrorist organization by the United States) to bring aid to the besieged Gaza Strip.
World leaders are trying to prevent the conflict from spreading to a region that is key to the world’s energy supply.
President Joe Biden and Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman agreed in a phone call Tuesday to expand diplomatic outreach “to maintain stability in the region and prevent the conflict from escalating,” the White House said.
Meanwhile, deadly clashes between Israeli troops and Palestinians have increased in the occupied West Bank, and there have been new clashes between Israel and Hezbollah on the Israel-Lebanon border.
The Israeli military said it attacked a group of Hamas divers trying to enter Israel by sea near Kibbutz Zikim.
The United States has advised Israel to postpone a planned ground offensive as Washington seeks to free more than 200 people held hostage by Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
But when reporters asked President Joe Biden if he was asking Israel to delay the ground invasion, he responded: “The Israelis make their own decision.”
Blinken called on the 15 members of the UN Security Council to help prevent the conflict from turning into a regional war.
“The members of this council, and particularly the permanent members, have a special responsibility to prevent the spread of this conflict,” Blinken said, warning Iran and its proxies in the region against opening new fronts in the war. “I look forward to continuing to work with my colleague from the People’s Republic of China to do just that when I visit Washington later this week.”
Iran’s permanent representative to the UN, Amir Saeed Iravani, told the Security Council on Tuesday that Secretary of State Antony Blinken was baselessly trying to blame Iran for the war between Israel and Hamas.
“Our commitment to regional peace and stability remains unwavering,” he said. “The United States has further aggravated the conflict by openly siding with the aggressor at the expense of the innocent Palestinian population.”
At the UN Security Council, the United States and Russia proposed alternative plans to provide humanitarian assistance to Palestinian civilians. Washington called for pauses and Russia called for a humanitarian ceasefire.
A pause is generally considered a less formal and short-term measure compared to a ceasefire.
“We are deeply convinced that the main signal that the whole world now expects from the Security Council is the demand for an immediate and unconditional ceasefire by the parties to the conflict,” said Russia’s permanent representative to the UN, Vasily Nebenzya.
Arab states have strongly backed calls for a humanitarian ceasefire amid widespread destruction in Gaza.
“We regret that the Council has not twice adopted a resolution or even called for a ceasefire to end this war,” said Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres last week called for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said more than a third of Gaza’s hospitals and almost two-thirds of primary health care clinics had closed due to damage or lack of fuel.
The UN Palestine Refugee Agency (UNRWA) warned via social media site X that it would cease operations in Gaza on Wednesday night due to a lack of fuel.
However, the Israeli military confirmed on Tuesday that it would ban the import of the fuel to prevent Hamas from seizing it.
