UN Security Council to hold emergency meeting over Hamas chief killing
The UN Security Council will hold an emergency meeting on Wednesday after Hamas said its political leader Ismail Haniyeh was killed by an Israeli strike on Iran's capital, the Russian presidency of the council said.
The United Nations Security Council holds a meeting on the situation in the Middle East, including Iran's recent attack against Israel, at UN headquarters in New York City on 14 April 2024. Picture: Charly TRIBALLEAU / AFP
UNITED NATIONS, United States - The UN Security Council will hold an emergency meeting on Wednesday after Hamas said its political leader Ismail Haniyeh was killed by an Israeli strike on Iran's capital, the Russian presidency of the council said.
The meeting, requested by Iran and supported by representatives of Russia, China and Algeria, is scheduled for 4:00 pm (2000 GMT), said a spokesman for the Russian presidency, which holds the rotating leadership of the council.
Separately, UN chief Antonio Guterres denounced the attacks on Tehran as well as Beirut as a "dangerous escalation," after an Israeli strike on Tuesday evening also killed top Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukr in Lebanon.
"The Secretary-General believes that the attacks we have seen in South Beirut and Tehran represent a dangerous escalation at a moment in which all efforts should instead be leading to a ceasefire in Gaza" and "the release of all Israeli hostages," his spokesman Stephane Dujarric said in a statement.
In a letter to the Security Council, Iran's UN envoy Amir Saeid Iravani called on members to "condemn unequivocally and strongly the acts of aggression and terrorist attacks" by Israel on the sovereignty of Iran, Lebanon and Syria.
He also urged council members to take "immediate action to ensure accountability for these violations of international law," including potential sanctions.
Hamas has vowed that Israel's attacks "will not go unanswered," while Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has threatened "harsh punishment" for Haniyeh's killing.