Egypt on Sunday summoned ambassadors of the UN Security Council (UNSC) permanent members to Egypt on the latest developments in the Gaza Strip, where Israeli troops launched ground operation on Saturday evening following eight-day airstrikes.
Egypt expressed its regret at the UNSC's failure to adopt a binding resolution calling for a stop of the ongoing Israeli attacks on Gaza, Egyptian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hossam Zaki said in a statement.
Egypt called on the ambassadors to inform their countries respectively to "deal seriously with the current situation in the region," said Zaki.
The UNSC permanent members should shoulder their responsibilities and seek the approval of a binding resolution to press for an immediate halt of the Israeli offensive against the Palestinian enclave, added the spokesman.
According to Palestinian medical sources, at least 17 Palestinians were killed and 130 wounded since the Israel Defense Force launched the ground operation on Saturday night.
Israel's military action, aimed at retaliating for Hamas militants' rocket attacks into Israel, has killed some 480 Palestinians and wounded more than 2,400 others in the past eight days.
On Saturday, the UN Security Council failed to reach any formal agreement after the council's nearly four-hour emergency meeting following Israel's ground operation in Gaza.
The meeting was the Security Council's third one since the conflict erupted on Dec. 27, 2008.
The United States, one of the five permanent members of the Security Council, prevented the council from adopting the non-binding statement, diplomatic sources said.
Source:Xinhua
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