Russia criticized the U.S. for vetoing the U.N. Security Council resolutions on Gaza, saying that each veto costs thousands of lives in the blockaded Palestinian enclave amid Israel's ongoing attacks.

"Every American veto on Gaza is not just a voting statistic in the U.N. Security Council. We must not forget that it also had a specific terrible price – the lives of thousands of civilians in Gaza," Russia's Permanent Representative to the U.N. Vasily Nebenzya said in a Security Council session on the situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian question.

Expressing that the current situation in the Middle East is escalating every day and drawing in new countries in the region, Nebenzya said humanitarian resolutions by the U.N. on Gaza cannot be implemented without a cease-fire.

Nebenzya said the U.S. does not hide that it perceives the Security Council "as a hindrance that should not get in the way" of its diplomacy.

Russia calls for a vote for the resolution to accept Palestine as a full member of the U.N., he added.​