UNITED NATIONS: The UN Security Council agreed to hold an emergency meeting Tuesday on the humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip caused by a crippling Israeli blockade, diplomats said Monday.
The decision to hold the meeting at 10 am (1500 GMT) Tuesday was made during closed-door council consultations in response to a request from Arab UN ambassadors and the 57-member Organization of the Islamic Conference, they added.
Palestinian UN observer Ryad Mansour earlier told reporters that he wanted the 15-member council to adopt a resolution or a statement demanding that Israel lift "its crippling, cruel siege on the Palestinian civilian population" of Gaza which he said amounted to "collective punishment" for rocket firing into the Jewish state.
The Gaza Strip, where most of the 1.5 million residents depend on aid, has been sealed off since Thursday when Israel closed all crossing points into the territory in response to continued rocket attacks by Palestinian militants.
On Monday, however, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak authorized Gaza to be resupplied with some fuel and medicine after a review of the humanitarian situation, his ministry said.
The move was welcomed by Khaled Meshaal, the exiled chief of the Islamist Hamas movement that has run the Palestinian coastal territory since it ousted forces loyal to Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas last June.
However, Meshaal reaffirmed his movement’s commitment to armed struggle against Israel.
The UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) warned it would be forced to stop food distribution to hundreds of thousands of Gaza residents within days if the lockdown continues.
The European Union earlier slammed what it termed the "collective punishment" of Gaza’s 1.5 million residents, while Washington’s UN ambassador said Israel has the right to defend itself but must take civilians into account.
"We do believe that rocket attacks against Israel are unacceptable, that Israel has the right to defend itself," US ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad told reporters. "But when Israel defends itself, it has to take the impact on the civilians into account."
And Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov urged Meshaal in a phone call to halt rocket attacks on Israel, his ministry said in a statement.