TEHRAN, Dec. 30 (UPI) -- Iran Tuesday called on UNESCO to intervene in the Gaza Strip to ensure education facilities were undamaged during Israeli raids.
Israel responded to Hamas calling an end to a six-month cease-fire with intense air raids during the weekend. Israeli ground troops were reported to be preparing for a ground invasion of the Gaza Strip to take on Hamas militants.
Mohammad Reza Majidi, the Iranian envoy to the U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, condemned what he considered war crimes perpetrated by Israeli forces in the Gaza Strip, the official Islamic Republic News Agency said.
Majidi said in a letter to UNESCO Secretary-General Koichiro Matsuura that the U.N. body should take "serious and due measures" to ease the situation for Gaza citizens.
The envoy called on UNESCO to honor its commitment to its international obligations and speak out against the humanitarian crisis in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip.
Majidi said he would issue letters to members of the G-77, Arab and Islamic countries and members of the Non-Aligned Movement to weigh the calls to UNESCO.
The Iranian envoy also called on the UNESCO secretary-general to dispatch a special envoy to the Gaza Strip to examine the conditions at educational facilities as the conflict there enters its fourth day.
