RESTRAINT

"The cycle of violence in Gaza needs to end," Mladenov emphasized.

"The Secretary-General and I have repeatedly called on all to exercise restraint, for all necessary steps to avoid an escalation and for all incidents to be fully investigated," he said.

He said an estimated 35,000 Gazans had participated in demonstrations on Monday, while other Palestinians had marched in the West Bank cities of Ramallah, Bethlehem, Hebron, Jericho, Nablus and East Jerusalem, speaking out against the relocation of the United States embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

More than 100 people had been killed since the start of the protests on March 30, he said.

Urging the Council to step up efforts in support of a peaceful resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, he called upon all parties to refrain from taking unilateral measures.

They should instead advance the goal of two states, Israel and Palestine, of which Gaza was an integral part, living side by side in peace, security and prosperity, he stressed.

Swedish UN Ambassador Olof Skoog urged all parties to act with the utmost restraint to avoid further loss of life and to protect civilians, particularly children.

Emphasizing that the immediate priority must be to defuse the current tensions on the ground, he said all parties must take immediate steps to de-escalate the situation.

Sweden regretted that the press statement proposed by Kuwait could not be adopted and hoped that a way forward on an appropriate public expression could be found.