RAMALLAH, June 8 (Xinhua) -- Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has instructed Palestine's envoy to the United Nations (UN) to request an emergency session of the UN Security Council to discuss the repercussions of the Israeli attacks on the central Gaza Strip, the Palestinian official news agency WAFA reported on Saturday.
Abbas is engaged in intensive diplomatic efforts with Arab and international stakeholders to convene the emergency session, the aim of which is to address the "ongoing Israeli aggression" against the Palestinian people and compel Israel to comply with the resolutions of international legitimacy, WAFA said.
Abbas emphasized the urgent need for international intervention to halt the humanitarian catastrophe unfolding in Gaza and the West Bank, adding that Israel continues to exploit "international silence and U.S. support" to "perpetrate crimes," according to the report.
On Saturday, at least 210 Palestinians were killed and more than 400 others injured in Israeli airstrikes on central Gaza. Since its onset last October, the deadly conflict between Israel and Gaza-ruling Hamas has led to 36,801 Palestinians killed and 83,680 others injured in the strip, local health authorities said in an update earlier in the day. ■
