UN Security Council meets on Gaza statement

UNITED NATIONS - The UN Security Council held a meeting on Monday evening in a bid to bridge the gap among some member states on a proposed council statement on the recently escalated clashes between Israel and the Palestinian militants over Gaza, diplomats told Xinhua.

The 15-nation UN body began the meeting at around 18:30 pm EST (2300GMT) behind closed doors to narrow the differences and reach agreement how to respond collectively to the Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza Strip in retaliation for the Palestinian militants' rocket firing into the southern Israel, the diplomats said.

Earlier on Monday, the Russian permanent representative to the United Nations, Vitaly Churkin, accused the United States of attempting to "filibuster" a statement of the Security Council on Gaza.

"To me, it unfortunately looked like a little bit of a filibuster attempt," Churkin told reporters.

Morocco, representing Arab countries on the 15-nation council, proposed a statement calling for a halt to the Israel-Hamas hostilities last Thursday.

Israeli airstrikes in Gaza were reported to have killed since Wednesday more than 90 Palestinians and wounded as many as 700 more. Three Israelis were killed by rockets fired from Gaza.