Middle East: As fighting worsens, UN chief heads to region to help broker solution

Briefing the Security Council on the latest developments, Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs Jeffrey Feltman said the Secretary-General is “prepared to do his part” to help the parties end the violence and find a way forward.

While Israel has legitimate security concerns, the United Nations “is alarmed by Israel’s heavy response,” said  Feltman.

While it was “indiscriminate rocket fire from Gaza into Israel” that ended on Thursday’s five-hour humanitarian pause, he said, the Israel Defense Force (IDF) has so far conducted four ground incursions into Gaza and some 90 airstrikes, firing 91 missiles, as well as more than 500 shells.

Palestinians, meanwhile, have fired some 127 rockets and 29 mortar shells at Israel, during the same period.

Since 8 July, when hostilities intensified, two Israelis were killed, including one civilian, and at least 365 civilians were injured. Meanwhile, some 250 Palestinians, the majority of them civilians, have been killed, and more than 1,900 civilians were injured in strikes from land, air and sea.

“The Secretary-General is extremely concerned that this escalation will further increase the already appalling death toll among Gazan civilians,”  Feltman said.