U.S. blocks UN statement on Israel, Palestine for third time in a week: media

NEW YORK, May 19 (Xinhua) -- A third United Nations Security Council emergency meeting in a week saw no concrete results in de-escalating the violence in Gaza and Israel which has left hundreds dead and injured, Al Jazeera has reported.

The meeting on Sunday came after the United States reportedly twice blocked resolutions that would have "condemned Israel's military response and called for a ceasefire," the news outlet said in an article on Monday.

Israeli airstrikes have killed 217 Palestinians, including 63 children, and wounded more than 1,400 people in the Gaza enclave run by the Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), according to Gaza's health ministry.

The death toll on the Israeli side has climbed to 12 after rockets Hamas fired at the southern Eshkol region killed two Thai nationals in a factory.

Israel has justified its bombing as retaliation against rocket attacks by Hamas fighters, while Hamas contends its actions were a response to the Israeli policy of forced displacement of Palestinians in occupied East Jerusalem and the storming of Al-Aqsa Mosque by Israeli forces last week.

The latest round of inaction comes "as U.S. President Joe Biden has given no signs of plans to step up public pressure on Israel, instead repeatedly stressing Israel's right to defend itself," the report said.

U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield warned during the meeting that the return to armed conflict would only put a negotiated two-state solution to the conflict further out of reach.

Still, the country has shown little inclination to diverge from its backing for Israel, the report said.