UN envoy: Israel, Hamas were heading toward ‘full scale war’

The UN envoy for Middle East Peace, Tor Wennesland, warned that Israel and Hamas were heading toward “full scale war.”

In the crowded, Israeli-blockaded enclave of Gaza, 10 children and one woman were among those killed since Monday night, AFP reported.

The UN Security Council will hold an urgent meeting on Wednesday over the deadly unrest playing out between Israel and the Palestinians, its second such session in three days, diplomatic sources were quoted as saying by AFP.

The closed-door meeting has been requested by Tunisia, Norway and China. The first, held on Monday, ended without a joint statement, with the US expressing reluctance to adopt a draft statement proposed by Norway “at this point.”

The text, seen by AFP, would call on Israel to “cease settlement activities, demolitions and evictions” including in East Jerusalem.

In the statement the Security Council members also expressed “their grave concern regarding escalating tensions and violence in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem,” which Israel annexed and considers part of its capital.

Asked Tuesday whether the US had lifted its opposition to such a Security Council statement, State Department spokesman Ned Price refrained from directly addressing the question.

“We want to see to it that steps, whether they emanate from the Israeli government, the Palestinian Authority or the UN Security Council, serve, not to escalate or provoke, but to de-escalate,” he said.

On Tuesday, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the escalation must stop.