Palestinian ambassador addresses UN

Palestinian ambassador to the UN Riyad Mansour, has called on the international community to step in to protect Palestinian civilians in the occupied territories. 

"The escalations mean that the conflict will become a religious one. We need to make Israel responsible for its illegal violations of international law and human rights law," Mansour told a special session of the UN Security Council in New York. 

He went on to call for an end to "collective punishment" such as the closures around East Jerusalem and home demolitions, which are being carried out against Palestinians accused of carrying out attacks. 

Mansour then urged the Security Council to honour past resolutions, which called for international protection for Palestinian citizens living under occupation, the disarmament of settlers and the deployment of international observers. The measures were approved in 1994 after the mass shooting at the Ibrahim mosque in Hebron in which 29 Palestinians were shot dead by a Jewish settler. 

The Temporary International Presence in Hebron mission currently only monitors the situation in the flashpoint West Bank town.