GAZA CITY: The United Nations General Assembly will hold an emergency session on Gaza following a request from the Palestinians and their allies, according to a letter late on Friday from the body’s president, Miroslav Lajcak.
Arab and Muslim countries had pushed for the session, which will be held on Wednesday at 3 pm (1900 GMT), after the United States vetoed a resolution condemning Israel at the UN Security Council last week.
The Kuwaiti-drafted resolution had called for a mechanism to protect Palestinians in Gaza, where Israeli forces have killed scores of protesters in recent weeks.
US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley called it “grossly one-sided” for not mentioning Hamas, the organisation which rules the Gaza Strip.
Wednesday’s meeting is likely to vote on a similar text, but whereas Security Council votes are binding, General Assembly resolutions carry no legal weight.
The resolution deplored and called for a stop to “excessive, disproportionate and indiscriminate force” by Israeli forces against Palestinian civilians. It also deplored the firing of rockets from the Gaza Strip against Israeli civilian areas.
The text also called for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to make recommendations within 60 days of the resolution’s adoption on measures to safeguard Palestinians, including on a UN international protection mission.
The announcement of Wednesday’s session came after four Palestinians were killed in demonstrations along the border with Israel, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.
They were the latest deaths in months of protests, which began on March 30 and peaked on May 14.
Another 618 people were injured on Friday including 117 hit by live ammunition in the clashes between protesters and Israeli forces in the eastern Gaza Strip, the ministry added.
During the demonstrations thousands of Palestinians have gathered near the Israeli border fence, often trying to tear it down.
About 10,000 Palestinians were burning tyres or throwing rocks or pipe bombs at security forces at five separate locations along the fence, the Israeli army said on Friday, adding that troops were reacting appropriately.
A fighter shot at soldiers as well, the army’s spokesman said, while declining to comment on whether the soldiers were using live ammunition on Friday. The army has said in the past that its policy is to shoot Palestinians approaching the border who do not respond to commands to stop.
Other Palestinian protesters steered hundreds of kites with flaming shredded rags attached to them over the border towards Israel.
Dozens of the kites were rigged with explosive devices and blew up in the air, a spokesman said, while a spokesman for Israel’s fire and rescue services said that the kites only started smaller fires.
According to the Gaza Health Ministry, 123 people had been killed and thousands injured in protests before Friday. — dpa
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