The UN Security Council, which met urgently on Thursday after the deaths of more than 110 people during the distribution of food to the civilian population in the Gaza Strip, must say “enough”, underlined the Palestinian ambassador to the international organization.

“This monstrous massacre is proof that as long as the Security Council is paralyzed and vetoed, Palestinians are paying with their lives,” Riyad Mansour told reporters, some twenty-four hours after the US last week blocked, for the third time, a resolution he called to immediately declare a humanitarian ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.

“I met this morning with (US Ambassador to the UN) Linda Thomas-Greenfield,” he said, explaining that he “begged” her to allow a Security Council resolution to be passed that would “condemn this massacre.”

“The Security Council must say ‘enough’,” he continued. “If they have the courage and determination to prevent the repetition of such massacres (…) what we need is a ceasefire.”

The war in the Gaza Strip broke out on October 7, triggered by an unprecedented offensive by Hamas’ military arm in southern Israel, killing more than 1,160 people, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli data.

In retaliation, Israel’s civil-military leadership vowed to “annihilate” Hamas and launched military operations that killed more than 30,000 people, the vast majority of them women and children, according to Hamas’ health ministry.

Israeli firing on a crowd and subsequent trampling during a food distribution yesterday caused chaos, with the Hamas health ministry putting the death toll at more than 110 and 760 injured.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, “shocked” by the massacre he condemned, called for an “effective independent investigation” to assign responsibility.

The Palestinian ambassador underlined that “according to the information we have, dozens of people were hit by bullets in the heads” and added that the Israeli soldiers did not fire “in the air to reduce the crowd because there was confusion and chaos”, but “targeted and killed deliberately”. . Israel has denied that its soldiers deliberately killed civilians, citing “limited” fire at crowds that had approached and “threatening” them, and asserting that most of the dead were trampled in panic, or “carried away” by trucks.

Algeria tabled a draft resolution expressing the “deep concern” of the 15 member states, pointing out the responsibilities of the Israeli forces that “opened fire”.

“Fourteen members support the text,” Riyad Mansour noted.

According to diplomatic sources, the US does not agree to name Israel and talks will continue.

“The parties are working on wording to see if we can come up with a statement,” Deputy UN Ambassador Robert Wood explained.

“The problem is that we don’t know all the facts,” he added, assuring that he wants there to be wording that will guarantee that “the necessary verifications” will be made for the “responsibilities.”

“The humanitarian situation of the civilian population in Gaza is worsening day by day. We are now faced with an unprecedented disaster,” commented the French ambassador to the United Nations, Nicolas de Riviere. “It is not the first time that I remind you: the Security Council must take all its responsibilities,” he added, calling once again for an “immediate humanitarian ceasefire” to be declared.