Russia’s Ambassador to the United Nations Vitaly Churkin today accused the United States of blocking an effort to pass a resolution at the UN Security Council urging deescalation of the Israeli War in Gaza, saying it was “a little bit of a filibuster attempt.”

Churkin said the US had pushed “quite extensive amendments” to the statement, and many of them seemed to be designed for no other reason than to prevent the statement itself from being issued.

The Obama Administration has repeatedly endorsed the Israeli war, and has regularly blocked UN attempts to pass resolutions even hinting at criticism of Israeli action. Churkin said Russia is calling for meeting of the Quartet to try to tackle the crisis as well.

There have been growing international calls for a ceasefire in the war, citing a large number of civilian deaths in the Gaza Strip. Israeli officials, however, continue to talk up further escalation.