Photo taken on Sept. 20, 2019 shows the United Nations Security Council holding a meeting on the situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian question, at the UN headquarters in New York. UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process Nickolay Mladenov on Friday deplored the expansion of illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, as well as continued violence in Gaza. The expansion of illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, continued unabated in the past three months, Mladenov told the UN Security Council. (Xinhua/Li Muzi)