UN Security Council meets on Gaza-Israel, but fails to agree on statement

US pushes for harsh condemnation of Hamas but fails to achieve the consensus necessary for a statement.

Israel has pounded Gaza City with missiles in response to Hamas's surprise assault [Mahmud Hams/AFP]

The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) has met behind closed doors in an emergency session amid the war between Israel and Gaza but failed to achieve the unanimity needed for a joint statement

At least 1,100 people have already been killed since Hamas, the Palestinian group that controls the blockaded Gaza Strip, launched an assault on Israeli towns on Saturday and took hundreds of people hostage

Israel retaliated by declaring a state of war and pounding densely-populated Gaza, killing hundreds of people.

The United States called on the council’s 15 members to strongly condemn Hamas.

“There are a good number of countries that condemned the Hamas attacks. They’re obviously not all,” senior US diplomat Robert Wood told reporters after the session.

“You could probably figure out one of them without me saying anything,” said Wood, in a reference to Russia, whose relations with the West have deteriorated sharply since its invasion of Ukraine