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UNITED NATIONS (AP) - Russia's U.N. ambassador is frustrated the Security Council has remained silent about the escalating violence in Gaza between Israel and Hamas.

Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin says Morocco circulated a proposed press statement as early as last Thursday but foot-dragging by one council member meant it "is still bogged down" and characterized it as a "filibuster attempt."

He wouldn't tell reporters which nation was blocking the press statement, which must be adopted unanimously. But said anyone guessing it was the United States would be "a connoisseur" of Security Council politics.

U.S. Ambassador Susan Rice said after Monday night council consultations that the Egyptian government, President Barack Obama and others are working through all channels to broken an end to violence.

Several Western diplomats say the sticking point in the early versions of the Moroccan draft statement is that it omits a clear reference to the months of rocket attacks on Israeli land prior to Israel's airstrikes last week in Gaza.