Delegates widely condemned the fighting, with Kuwaiti ambassador Mansour Ayyad Al-Otaibi expressing regret that the Council had failed to adopt his delegation's Monday draft resolution.
Kuwait would take action in the UN General Assembly to ensure the perpetrators of the killings were held to account. He also called for measures that would offer international protection to the Palestinian people.
TWO-STATE SOLUTION
On the status of Jerusalem, Pierce said it should only be determined through a settlement negotiated by both parties, with the city being "a shared capital of Israel and Palestine."
A political process must now deliver a solution, especially since the situation in Gaza was deteriorating rapidly, she said, asking Mladenov to advance proposals for easing the situation in Gaza, including international support for infrastructure and other needed services.
Joanna Wronecka, permanent representative of Poland to the United Nations, reiterated Poland's commitment to a two-state solution, adding that the future capital of both states must materialize through negotiations.
The status of Jerusalem should assume mutual recognition of historical relations, she said, adding that her country would continue to respect the international consensus on Jerusalem as embodied in resolution 478 (1980) until the city's final status was resolved.
Other delegates defended the two-state formula as the only viable way forward, with Ethiopia's representative underlining that all arguments to the contrary were unrealistic. Ways and means must be found to save the two-state formula premised on dependable security for Israel and the realization of Palestinian national aspirations, he said.
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.
