SOCHI/GAZA CITY - Israeli settlement is a key factor in all issues in the Middle East; effort should be made to resolve the tensions, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday.
"You know, the Palestine-Israeli settlement is the key factor at the root of all issues in the Middle East. If we look at the Middle East, this is what we will eventually come to. So everything possible should be done so that this issue would be resolved, so that there would be direct contacts between Israel and Palestine," Putin said at the Valdai D.
Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced in a statement on Thursday that the United States will combine its Embassy and Consulate General in Jerusalem into one diplomatic mission in order to boost its efficiency.
“I am pleased to announce that following the May 14 opening of the US Embassy to Israel in Jerusalem, we plan to achieve significant efficiencies and increase our effectiveness by merging US Embassy Jerusalem and US Consulate General Jerusalem into a single diplomatic mission,” Pompeo said. “I have asked our Ambassador to Israel, David Friedman, to guide the merger.”
UN envoy warns Gaza is imploding
With its economy in a freefall and tensions rising with Israel, the Hamas-ruled enclave of Gaza is imploding, the UN envoy for the Middle East warned Thursday.
Nickolay Mladenov delivered the warning to the Security Council a day after Israeli warplanes struck the Gaza Strip in retaliation at rocket firings from the Palestinian territory.
“Gaza is imploding. This is not hyperbole. This is not alarmism. It is a reality,” Mladenov told the council.
He cited World Bank figures showing official unemployment at 53 percent, with more than 70 percent of Palestinian youths jobless.
Every second person in Gaza now lives below the poverty line, he said.
Hamas, which has ruled Gaza for a decade, on Thursday pledged to launch an investigation into the rocket fire after denying any involvement in the attack, but Israel rejected the denials.
“We remain on the brink of another potentially devastating conflict, a conflict that nobody claims to want, but a conflict that needs much more than just words to prevent,” said Mladenov.
The United Nations has made some headway in joint efforts with Egypt to address the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, but Mladenov warned this could collapse.
“Barring substantial steps to reverse the current course, this precarious sense of calm is doomed to give way under the mounting pressure. It is already beginning to fray,” he said.
Hamas and Israel have fought three wars in Gaza since 2008.