UNITED NATIONS, May 05 (APP): The United Nations and Egypt are working together to prevent the situation in Gaza from escalating as more than 200 rockets were fired at Israel and some 120 targets in Gaza struck by Israeli war planes on Saturday, according to UN special envoy for Middle East peace, Nickolay Mladenov.
In a statement released a few hours after the escalation of violence began, he voiced his deep concern and said the UN is “working with Egypt and all sides to calm the situation” and called on all parties to “immediately de-escalate and return to the understandings of the past few months.”
“Those who seek to destroy them will bear responsibility for a conflict that will have grave consequences for all,” the coordinator stressed, referring to a fragile Egypt-brokered and UN-backed ceasefire recently agreed upon.
Mladenov added that “continuing down the current path of escalation will quickly undo what has been achieved and destroy the chances for long term solutions to the crisis. This endless cycle of violence must end, and efforts must accelerate to realize a political solution to the crisis in Gaza.”
He further stressed, “the current violence jeopardizes the significant progress made in recent weeks to relieve the suffering of people in Gaza, lift the closures, and support intra-Palestinian reconciliation.”
“My thoughts and prayers go out to the family and friends of all those who were killed, and I wish a speedy recovery to the injured,” the Coordinator said.”
Against a backdrop of longstanding shortages of basic goods and services in Gaza linked to a more than decade-long air, sea and land blockade by Israel, Palestinian protests began over a year ago in the Strip.
In an ongoing cycle of violence, in over a year, close to 200 Palestinians have been killed, including more than 40 children and over 1300 have been injured.
