India at Security Council calls for ‘immediate de-escalation’ of Israel-Palestine hostilities

The virtual public meeting was held on Sunday after diplomats reached a compromise following U.S. objections to a public meeting

India called for an immediate de-escalation of the situation between Israel and Palestine at the first public United Nations Security Council meeting held since  the current surge in hostilities between the two parties entered its seventh day, killing at least 149 people in Gaza and 10 in Israel, including many children. The virtual public meeting was held on Sunday after diplomats reached a compromise following U.S. objections to a public meeting, Reuters reported. “Immediate de-escalation is the need of the hour, so as to arrest any further slide towards the brink. We urge both sides to show extreme restraint, desist from actions that exacerbate tensions, and refrain from attempts to unilaterally change the existing status-quo, including in East Jerusalem and its neighbourhood,” India’s Permanent Representative and Ambassador to the U.N. , T.S. Tirumurti,  told the Security Council on Sunday.