SCOTT DETROW, HOST:

The United Nations Security Council met this afternoon in emergency session as diplomats attempt to include the battle in Gaza and Israel. The Biden administration says the U.S. is standing firmly behind Israel, and right this moment the administration introduced it is sending a naval provider strike group to the jap Mediterranean as a present of help. And the U.S. says international locations which have affect with Palestinian militant group Hamas ought to condemn the group for its assault and press it to launch hostages. NPR’s Michele Kelemen stories.

MICHELE KELEMEN, BYLINE: Secretary of State Antony Blinken made the rounds on the Sunday morning discuss exhibits, calling this a large terrorist assault by Hamas, whose militants dragged Israeli males, girls and kids throughout the border into Gaza.

(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, “MEET THE PRESS”)

ANTONY BLINKEN: A Holocaust survivor in a wheelchair, girls and kids all being taken hostage – so you’ll be able to think about the influence that is having in Israel, and it ought to be revolting to individuals around the globe.

KELEMEN: Outside the U.N. Security Council, Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, Gilad Erdan, held up footage and confirmed movies on his iPad of Israelis being hauled away by Hamas in what he described as a barbaric pogrom. He stated Hamas is not any totally different from ISIS and al-Qaida, and the world should not attempt to cause with them anymore.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

GILAD ERDAN: This is Israel’s 9/11. This is Israel’s 9/11. And Israel will do every thing to deliver our little children again dwelling.

KELEMEN: The State Department is wanting into stories that some Americans are amongst these held hostage. Several Americans have been additionally reportedly killed. Blinken instructed NBC’s “Meet The Press” that everybody within the Biden administration has been working the telephones to rally help for Israel and encourage international locations within the area to make use of their affect with Hamas.

(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, “MEET THE PRESS”)

BLINKEN: The president, myself, everybody all through our authorities working around the globe each to construct up that help and to get international locations to make use of the affect they might have with Hamas to get it to stop and desist.

KELEMEN: While the U.S. desires to see the world come collectively to sentence Hamas, the Palestinian ambassador on the United Nations, Riyad Mansour, does not need the world to present Israel a clean examine.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

RIYAD MANSOUR: You can not say nothing justifies killing Israelis after which present justification for killing Palestinians.

KELEMEN: The Palestinians are calling for an emergency assembly of the Arab League. Until this weekend, U.S. diplomacy within the area was targeted on a long-sought-after deal to get Israel and Saudi Arabia to normalize ties. Secretary Blinken instructed NBC there isn’t any secret who opposes that.

(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, “MEET THE PRESS”)

BLINKEN: Those who’re against the talks, those that are against Israel normalizing its relations with its neighbors and with international locations past the area, are Hamas, Hezbollah and Iran. And so it is solely doable that one of many motivations for this assault was to attempt to derail these efforts to advance normalization.

KELEMEN: Israel’s ambassador, Erdan, echoes that.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

ERDAN: They positively wish to derail the possibilities of having normalization between Saudi Arabia and Israel. We nonetheless need it to occur. We’ll do every thing that we will to stay in coexistence with all of our neighbors.

KELEMEN: But Israel proper now’s at conflict with Hamas. And although the U.S. says it does not have indications that Iran was behind this Hamas assault, Iran does have an extended historical past of arming and financing Hamas and different terrorist teams within the area.

Michele Kelemen, NPR News, the United Nations.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

Copyright © 2023 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our web site terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for additional data.

NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This textual content will not be in its ultimate kind and could also be up to date or revised sooner or later. Accuracy and availability could fluctuate. The authoritative report of NPR’s programming is the audio report.