The joint statement from members added that several hundred people were also injured in the Thursday incident, and some had sustained “gunshot wounds as observed by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA)”.
It, however, did not specify who was responsible for the gunfire.
The Security Council members went on to “extend their sincere condolences to the families of the victims and wish a swift and complete recovery for those who have been injured”.
The members also “urged Israel to keep border crossings open for humanitarian aid to enter Gaza, to facilitate the opening of additional crossings to meet humanitarian needs at scale, and to support the rapid and safe delivery of relief items to people in all of the Gaza Strip”.
They urged for the protection of civilians and civilian infrastructure, and reminded all parties that they “must comply with their obligations under international law, including international humanitarian law and international human rights law”.
The council members said they also have “grave concern” over the estimation…that all 2.2 million people in Gaza would face alarming levels of acute food insecurity.
They called for parties to the conflict to allow, facilitate, and enable the immediate, rapid, safe, sustained and unhindered delivery of humanitarian assistance at scale to the Palestinian civilian population throughout the Gaza Strip.
The statement comes less than two days after the US blocked a previous UN Security Council statement, blaming Israel for the aid calamity.
More than 30,400 Palestinians, most of them women and children, have been confirmed killed and over 71,000 others injured so far during Israel’s genocidal war, which began following Operation al-Aqsa Storm by Gaza-based resistance movements.
