MOSCOW, November 13. /TASS/: The United Nations is unlikely to help resolve the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, Israeli Ambassador to Russia Alexander Ben Zvi said on Monday.
"I doubt that the UN will be able to resolve our conflict because up to now I haven’t seen a single conflict settled by the United Nations," he said. "The UN is a waste of space because this organization has done nothing positive for Israel in our conflict."
Tensions flared up again in the Middle East on October 7 after militants from the Gaza Strip-based radical Palestinian group Hamas launched a surprise incursion on Israeli territory, killing many Israeli kibbutz residents living near the Gaza border and abducting more than 200 Israelis, including women, children and the elderly. Hamas described its attack as a response to Israeli authorities’ aggressive actions against the Al-Aqsa Mosque on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem’s Old City. Israel declared a total blockade of the Gaza Strip and launched bombardments of the enclave and some areas in Lebanon and Syria, as well as a ground operation against Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Clashes are also reported in the West Bank.
Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said earlier that the IDF was expanding its ground operation in Gaza.