IUML, which has been calling for all parties to unite behind Palestine, declines a CPM invite; but shows another instance of growing distance from ally Congress
US has opposed a new long-term occupation of the Gaza Strip by Israel. State Department spokesman Vedant Patel has said that US supports Palestinians and believes that Gaza belongs to them. Israel withdrew from the Gaza Strip, which it captured in the 1967 Six-Day War, in 2005. It later imposed a blockade after Hamas militants seized control of the territory.
Vassily Nebenzia, Permanent Representative of Russia at the United Nations, accused the United States and its allies of "hypocrisy" saying they call to uphold humanitarian law but hold back seeing "horrific destruction in Gaza".