The United Nations Security Council's joint position on violence between Israel and the Palestinians is “very important,” the council's current head, Russian UN Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said Tuesday. Churkin said “there are varying recollections” and people “with long memories” who cannot remember when the Security Council was able to reach a “united approach” on the situation in the Middle East. Churkin said when reaching consensus on a summary of the situation in Gaza and in Israel, member states were not ready to define certain language. He said that is where they had “broke off” in disagreement. “I think it's very important that, for the first time in a long, the Security Council was able to come up with a joint position and call the parties to stop all acts of violence,” Churkin said. The 15-member Council held an emergency session on the situation in Gaza at the request of Libya on Saturday where both the council and Secretary General Ban Ki-moon condemned the increasing violence in the Gaza Strip and in southern Israel. Churkin said a resolution on Gaza is currently in the hands of Libya. Meanwhile, UN spokeswoman Michele Montas said Tuesday that a number of ambulances in Gaza are unable to function because of diesel fuel shortages, according to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA). “30 out of 87 ambulances run by the Ministry of Health and the Red Crescent in the Gaza Strip have been unable to function because of the lack of fuel,” she said. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Saturday said that the Palestinian Ministry of Health is requesting more diesel fuel for the ambulances. Montas added that “all 140 water wells in the Gaza Strip have now run out of fuel, leaving all Gazans with intermittent water supply at best.” “UNRWA adds that four of its schools in Gaza and Rafah have sustained damage as a result of Israeli operations in the area,” Montas said. In related news, Montas announced Tuesday that Secretary General Ban has appointed Australian national Maxwell Gaylord as Deputy Special Coordinator for the Middle East peace process. “In this capacity, Gaylord will also serve as United Nations coordinator for humanitarian and development activities in the occupied Palestinian territory,” Montas said.
