U.S. envoy tells UN on Mideast: 'We have not been silent, neither have you'

FILE PHOTO: New U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield holds a news conference to mark the start of the U.S. presidency of the U.N. Security Council for March, at U.N. headquarters in New York, U.S., March 1, 2021. REUTERS/Mike Segar/File Photo

The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, told a private meeting of the U.N. Security Council on Tuesday that Washington believes a public statement by the body would not help calm tensions between Israel and the Palestinians.

"We have not been silent and neither have you," Thomas-Greenfield told the 15-member body's third closed meeting on the violence, according to a U.N. diplomat familiar with her remarks.

"Our focus has been and will continue to be on an intensive diplomatic engagement to bring this violence to an end," she said. "President Biden expressed support for a ceasefire."

(Reporting by Michelle Nichols; editing by Jonathan Oatis)