France has proposed a resolution with the UN Security Council calling for a ceasefire in the Israel-Gaza conflict, the president's office said late Tuesday. This resolution has been proposed in coordination with Egypt and Jordan.
French President Emmanuel Macron and his Egyptian counterpart Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, who is in Paris for summits on Africa, agreed on the resolution in a video conference with Jordan's King Abdullah II, the statement said.
Meanwhile, Israel bombarded Gaza with airstrikes and Palestinian militants resumed cross-border rocket fire on Tuesday after a brief overnight lull during which the UN managed to send a small fuel convoy into the enclave.
Israeli leaders said they would press on, for now, with an offensive to destroy the capabilities of the armed factions Hamas and Islamic Jihad, amid fresh calls by the US and other world powers for an end to the conflict.
Palestinians in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and Israel’s 21% Arab minority staged a general strike on Tuesday in solidarity.
Gaza medical officials say 213 Palestinians have been killed, including 61 children and 36 women. Israeli authorities say ten people have been killed in Israel, including two children.
Nearly 450 buildings in the Gaza strip have been destroyed or badly damaged, including six hospitals and nine primary care health centres, the UN humanitarian agency said.
More than 52,000 Palestinians have been displaced by airstrikes, the UN aid agency has said, while rights group Amnesty International said Israeli air raids on residential buildings might amount to war crimes.
Israel said more than 3,450 rockets have been launched at it from Gaza, some falling short and others shot down by its Iron Dome air defences.
Meanwhile, EU foreign ministers called for a ceasefire, but failed to reach unanimity as Hungary, Israel's closest ally in the bloc, declined to join the other 26 foreign ministers in calling for a truce on their video call.
(With Agencies Inputs)
