UN Mideast Envoy Warns of Looming Gaza ‘Crisis’

(REUTERS) —  The United Nations Middle East envoy warned the Security Council on Friday that a power struggle between the rival Palestinian Fatah and Hamas movements had worsened a humanitarian crisis in Gaza that now risked exploding into another conflict.

“In Gaza we are walking into another crisis with our eyes wide open,” the envoy, Nickolay Mladenov, told the 15-member Council. “Unless urgent measures are taken to de-escalate, the crisis risks spiraling out of control with devastating consequences for Palestinians and Israelis alike.”

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah movement controls the Western-backed Palestinian Authority (PA), which governs the Israeli occupied West Bank. The Islamist Hamas movements runs the Gaza Strip after seizing control from Fatah a decade ago.

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