UNITED NATIONS, March 30 (Xinhua) -- The Kuwaiti ambassador to the United Nations on Friday demanded the Security Council take action to stop Israeli violence against Palestinians in Gaza.
"We would ask the (Security) Council to take action," Mansour Al-Otaibi, the Kuwaiti ambassador, told reporters. The council should condemn the violence and stop it, he said.
The ambassador, whose delegation requested an emergency meeting of the Security Council after Israeli soldiers reportedly killed at least 15 Palestinian protesters and wounded about one thousand others along the border fence, said the Israeli military was in violation of international humanitarian law and the Geneva Conventions.
On Friday, thousands of Palestinians started the first day of the Great March of Return, a month long sit-in staged along the border fence between the Gaza Strip and Israel to demand the return of Palestinians refugees who were forced to leave their cities during the Arab-Israeli war in 1948.
Al-Otaibi said the Palestinian demonstrators were unarmed and what was happening in Gaza is a dangerous situation.
Carl Skau, Swedish Alternate Representative to the Security Council, said Friday that the use of force must be proportionate. "It seems that the Israeli security forces have been using live ammunition today," he told reporters.
Skau said that he was appalled by the loss of life and the large number of the wounded in Gaza and that Friday's incidents must be immediately investigated. He also voiced concern about reports of Israeli airstrikes in Gaza.
The focus now is to avoid further escalation, said Skau. "All parties must show restraint, but of course in particular the Israeli security forces."
He said the humanitarian situation in Gaza is terrible, calling for an end to the closure of the strip.
