The United Nations Security Council meeting on the Middle East was briefly interrupted on Wednesday when two protesters staged a protest with signs, standing and yelling for the release of Israeli hostages held by Palestinian militants Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
The protest by two women had come as the Russian Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov began to address the 15-member body after Israel’s U.N. Ambassador Gilad Erdan released a statement.
It is noteworthy to mention that Protests inside the U.N. headquarters located in New York are quite rare.
Diplomats in the Security Council chamber had recounted how the women, dressed in black, yelled “free the hostages.” Afterwards, U.N. security asked the women to leave the chamber and they did so, according to a report by a U.N. official.
Israel’s U.N. mission had not immediately responded to a request for comment on the protest.
The war in Gaza had begun when Hamas attacked southern Israel on October 7, killing 1,200 people and holding about 250 people as hostages, including civilians and soldiers, according to Israeli reports.
