The UN’s top official for the Middle East peace process has criticized Israel for its ongoing siege of the Gaza Strip. The official, Alvaro de Sotto, addressed the UN Secuirty Council on Thursday.

• Alvaro de Sotto: “The combination of near total closure of the Gaza strip, non payment of public sector salaries, absence of basic law and order, declining service delivery, continued military strikes by air and land and the lack of any apparent political horizon is a truly explosive one — as potentially dangerous for Israel as it is currently dangerous for Palestinians. As my colleague Jann Egeland puts it, 'Gaza is a political timebomb,' and only a political way out can diffuse it.”