UNITED NATIONS - The UN Security Council held an emergency meeting on Wednesday night to discuss Israeli strikes against the Gaza Strip but took no action, as Israel threatened a wider offensive in the Palestinian enclave to stem rocket salvos by Hamas terrorists.
Indian Ambassador Hardeep Singh Puri, president of the 15-nation Security Council this month, told reporters after the 90-minute closed-door meeting that council members had only agreed to issue a communique stating that an emergency meeting took place and other procedural details.
Speaking on behalf of India, not the Security Council, Puri expressed the hope that the fact the council meeting took place would help to ease tensions in the Middle East and prevent an escalation of the conflict.
"The message that must be taken from this meeting is the violence must stop," he said, adding that the council was prepared to meet again on Gaza if necessary.
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