UNITED NATIONS: Fierce exchanges over Gaza killings

There have been angry exchanges between Israeli and Palestinian envoys at the UN, as the diplomatic fallout over deadly violence in Gaza gathered pace. Some 58 Palestinians were killed when Israeli troops fired on protesters on Monday, with funerals held on Tuesday. Palestinian UN envoy Riyad Mansour spoke of a “crime against humanity”, while Israel […]

There have been angry exchanges between Israeli and Palestinian envoys at the UN, as the diplomatic fallout over deadly violence in Gaza gathered pace.

Some 58 Palestinians were killed when Israeli troops fired on protesters on Monday, with funerals held on Tuesday.

Palestinian UN envoy Riyad Mansour spoke of a “crime against humanity”, while Israel accused the rulers of Gaza, Hamas, of taking their own people hostage.

Mansour said: “We condemn in the most emphatic terms the odious massacre committed by Israel in the Gaza Strip.”

He called for a halt to Israel’s military operations and a transparent international inquiry into what he said was a “brutal Israeli attack on Palestinian people who expressed their resistance”.

Danny Danon, the Israeli envoy to the UN, said the events at the border “were not demonstrations, they were not protests, these were violent riots”.

He said that Hamas had “taken the people of Gaza hostage”.