New York - The UN General Assembly is scheduled to meet Thursday to debate the Israel-Hamas fighting in Gaza Strip, a move requested by the Non-Aligned Movement, whose members have expressed more sympathies to the Palestinians in the current conflict.

The Non-Aligned Movement, known as NAM, also has the majority of votes in the 192-nation assembly under the presidency of Miguel d'Escoto Brockmann, a former foreign minister of the leftist Sandinista government in Nicaragua.

Miguel d'Escoto, a former Maryknoll priest, has openly criticized the UN Security Council for its handling of the Middle East conflict. Last week, he welcomed the council's ceasefire resolution 1860, which demanded an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.

But he said resolution 1860, which was rejected by both Israel and Hamas, was a "minimalist response ... to a horrific aggression."

"The council's action, important as it is, was neither prompt nor effective, as demanded by Article 24 of the United Nations Charter," Miguel d'Escoto said.

"Rather than responding to the warnings of a likely new aggression against Gaza, the council fiddled while Gaza burned, which is the reason he answered the request of member states to convene a meeting of the General Assembly," he said.

"Gaza is still burning, but the Security Council resolution could be at least a first step in a process to quench that fire," he said.

The NAM would be expected to introduce a draft resolution dealing with the Gaza fighting in the assembly debate. That body had held several special sessions in past years to deal with crises in the Middle East, but its resolutions were also ignored by the warring parties. (dpa)