As part of attempts to gain international support for Gaza operation, Israeli Ambassador Shalev complains to UN secretary-general, Security Council president about significant increase in number of rockets fired into Jewish state, clarifies Israels maintain right to defend its citizens
WASHINGTON – Israel
won't be held hostage by Hamas,
Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations Prof. Gabriela Shalev said Sunday night in a harsh letter of complaint sent to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and to the Security Council president following the intensification in the rocket fire directed at Israel from the Gaza Strip.
Filing a complaint during the weekend is considered an unusual move in the United States, but Israel decided to take it following a Foreign Ministry campaign aimed at increasing the international support for a possible military operation in Gaza.
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Ambassador Shalev made it clear in her letter that Israel views Hamas as solely responsible for the escalation in the region.
Israel's residents will not be Hamas hostages and Israel maintains the right to defend its citizens in accordance with the UN Treaty, she wrote.
The ambassador added that so far Israel has exercise restraint in response to the rocket fire, but that after Hamas declared that the lull has expired and in light of the increase in the firing of rockets, the Jewish state would not hesitate to take military action if needed.
Some 17 Qassam rockets and several mortar shells were fired at Israel on Sunday. A foreign worker was lightly injured
and a Sderot resident suffered shock. A number of buildings in a kibbutz in the Sha'ar Hanegev Regional Council sustained damage.
In the evening hours, the Israel Defense Forces attacked
two rocket launchers in the northern part of Gaza City. Palestinians reported that three civilians were injured in an IDF strike in the northern Strip town of Beit Lahiya.
In a special discussion held Sunday evening at Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni's office it was decided that the minister and Israel's ambassadors worldwide will launch a global effort
in a bid to create an "international umbrella", which would back a defensive IDF operation in light of the ongoing rocket fire.
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