Official Says UN Working to Deescalate Situation in Gaza

Jerusalem, MINA – A United Nations official said today that the UN is working to de-escalate the situation in the Gaza Strip following two days of Israeli airstrikes that so far left 23 Palestinians dead, including women and children, and over 70 wounded, and Palestinian rocket firing into Israel that did not cause any casualties.

“The UN is working to urgently de-escalate the situation,” said United Nations Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, Nickolay Mladenov, in a statement on the current conflict between the Islamic Jihad and Israel, WAFA News Agency reported.

“I am very concerned about the ongoing and serious escalation between Palestinian Islamic Jihad and Israel, following the targeted killing of one of the group’s leaders inside Gaza yesterday,” he said.

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“The continuing escalation is very dangerous. It is yet another attempt to undermine the efforts to improve the dire socio-economic conditions in Gaza and prevent another devastating conflict.”

Mladenov criticized what he called the “indiscriminate” launching of rockets and mortars into Israeli towns bordering Gaza, which he said “is absolutely unacceptable and must stop immediately,” adding, “There can be no justification for any attacks against civilians.”(T/R04/P2)

Mi’raj News Agency (MINA)