Middle East on cusp of major war: Lavrov

The Middle East is on the cusp of a major war, which "some people want very much," Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said, TASS reports. "The Middle East is again teetering the brink of a major war, which some people seem to want very, very much," he at a UN Security Council meeting on the Middle East, including the Palestinian issue. Lavrov said that even though the UN Security Council and the UN General Assembly passed several resolutions calling for a ceasefire and sustainable humanitarian access to Gaza, the Israeli military operation continues. "Ten days ago, the General Assembly approved a resolution in support of the advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice, which unequivocally states the illegal nature of the Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands and the need to end it. The overwhelming majority of the council members supported this initiative aimed at achieving a just and lasting settlement of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and the realization of the Palestinians' right to establish their own independent state within the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital," he continued. The minister said there are unambiguous UN decisions on this issue, and it is a common goal to ensure their implementation. "The unresolved Palestinian-Israeli conflict has a destabilizing effect <...> on the entire region. The crisis around Gaza, unprecedented in its ferocity and destructive consequences, has become a catalyst for a sharp escalation of the Lebanese-Israeli confrontation, and the images of continued shelling along the Blue Line and deep into the territories of Lebanon and Israel have already traveled around the world," he said.