Nickolay Mladenov told the Security Council that in addition, Israel issued tenders for some 8,000 housing units since the December 2016 resolution, which also declared that the settlements have "no legal validity."

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He said the numbers "should be of serious concern to all those who continue to support the establishment of an independent and viable Palestinian state alongside Israel."

UN Secretary General António Guterres said in a report to the council circulated Wednesday that the settlements have "no legal effect." He declared that construction and approvals "must cease immediately and completely."

"The existence and expansion of settlements fuel resentment and hopelessness among the Palestinian population and significantly heighten Israeli-Palestinian tensions," the UN chief said. "In addition, they continue to undermine the prospects for ending the (Israeli) occupation and achieving the two-state solution by systematically eroding the possibility of establishing a contiguous and viable Palestinian state."

Guterres said he regrets the Trump administration's announcement on Nov. 18 that it no longer views "the establishment of Israeli civilian settlements in the West Bank" as "per se, inconsistent with international law."

Mladenov was reporting to the council on implementation of the 2016 resolution.

The resolution was approved by the council when the United States, in the final weeks of the Obama administration, abstained rather than using its veto to support longtime ally Israel as it had done many times previously.

US Ambassador Kelly Craft told the council that "the Trump Administration strongly opposes the 2016 resolution. It is one-sided. It is unfairly critical of Israel," she said. "And had I been the ambassador at the time of the vote on the resolution, I would have vetoed it."

Palestinian Ambassador to the UN Riyad Mansour said two words can summarize the reality for Palestinians: "confinement" in Gaza and the West Bank and "expansion" for Israeli settlements.

In Area C, which represents 60% of the West Bank and is under exclusive Israeli control and home to dozens of Israeli settlements, only 1% of land has been planned for Palestinian development, Mansour said. In east Jerusalem, which the Palestinians want as the capital of their future state, only 13% is zoned for Palestinian construction, he said.

"The purpose of this policy is crystal clear: acquiring maximum Palestinian land with minimum Palestinians," Mansour said.

He said Israel had taken no steps to "cease all settlement activities" and its demolitions and seizures of Palestinian-owned structures also continued.

He warned that "the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is in a fragile phase with the occupation deepening, political uncertainty prevailing, and volatile regional dynamics threatening to further destabilize the situation."

Without the commitment of Israel, the Palestinians and the international community "to pursue concrete measures that will lead to genuine political progress, the situation will continue to worsen," the UN envoy said.

On a positive note, he welcomed discussions on holding Palestinian legislative and presidential elections in 2020, which would be the first since 2006. "The international community should support this process," he said.

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A senior Egyptian defense official with ties to the country's intelligence officers mediating between Israel and Hamas told Israel Hayom that "had the recent escalation [with PIJ] in Gaza not erupted," the sides could have been "on the verge of breakthrough" over a broader deal to stabilize the ceasefire in return for a framework plan of understandings pertaining to Gaza.

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The senior Egyptian official said the United Nations also applied pressure to promote understandings and agreements between Israel and Hamas, and that the UN viewed the move as a practical way to significantly improve the dire humanitarian situation in the coastal enclave.

"This is also why the UN's Mideast envoy, Nickolay Mladenov, rushed to Cairo mere hours after the assignation of [PIJ leader Bahaa] Abu al-Atta and play a central role in the efforts to broker a ceasefire," the Egyptian official added.

The official also noted Hamas' atypical decision to order its military wing not to join PIJ in firing rockets at Israel, even though its leaders were aware of the harsh criticism such a step would incur from the other armed groups and Palestinian public in Gaza.

A senior Palestinian source in Gaza confirmed the Egyptian official's account to Israel Hayom. A senior Hamas official even told Israel Hayom that the messages transmitted by the Egyptian mediators from Israel to the Hamas leadership shortly after al-Atta's assassination and during the ensuing escalation was "don't intervene in the fighting and you won't be harmed."

According to the senior Palestinian official, Hamas decision-makers preferred not to jeopardize the understandings that had been reached with Israel indirectly via the Egyptians: "Al-Atta's assassination and the escalation in the Strip certainly caused a significant setback to the talks and the possibility of a breakthrough. However, had Hamas joined the fighting it would have ended the resolution efforts in Gaza."

The Palestinian official added that Hamas viewed al-Atta's "military" activities in northern Gaza unfavorably and that even al-Atta's own superiors in PIJ struggled to keep him in line.

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Nickolay Mladenov pointed to an increase of violent incidents in the past month, including West Bank settler-related violence and continuing tensions in and around Gaza.

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He told the UN Security Council on Tuesday that violence is taking place "against the backdrop of the complete political deadlock of the Middle East peace process and the lack of any perspective to revive it."

Mladenov said he and UN Secretary-General António Guterres have repeatedly warned that lack of a political will and leadership to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict on the basis of a two-state solution coupled with unilateral acts, including settlement building extremist attacks, and other factors "create an explosive mix."

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