U.S. leads moment of silence for Israeli victims at UN Human Rights Council

The United States on October 9 led a moment of silence at the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva to commemorate the lives of people killed in the major Hamas attack on Israel.

At a meeting of the U.N. refugee agency in Geneva, Michele Taylor, U.S. Permanent Representative to the council, requested a minute of silence to honour victims of the conflict in Israel and of an earthquake in Afghanistan. All but a handful of delegates stood up.

The seat for the Palestinian representative was empty.

Hamas gunmen burst across the fence from Gaza on Saturday, killing at least 700 people and taking dozens hostage back to the coastal enclave ruled by the Islamist group.

Israel responded with its heaviest ever bombardment of Gaza, killing more than 400 people, and could be contemplating a ground assault on the territory it withdrew from nearly two decades ago after 38 years of occupation.

The Israeli military said on Monday its forces had re-established control of communities near Gaza that had been overrun in a mass Hamas infiltration, but isolated clashes continued as some Palestinian gunmen remained active.