NEW YORK, January 29 (RIA Novosti) - The UN Security Council failed to reach an agreement on a Gaza statement due to differences between the U.S. and Arab nations, Russia's UN envoy said after negotiations on Tuesday.

"Unfortunately, the Security Council failed to reach a consensus. Today, before the negotiations began, during a meeting between a permanent representative from Libya and deputy permanent representative from the U.S. a conclusion was made that it would be impossible to reach an agreement due to the latest amendments to the text," Vitaly Churkin said.

He added the development did not benefit either a Middle East settlement, or the UN Security Council's role in the issue.

Thousands of Palestinians made their way from the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip into Egypt on January 23 after militants partially destroyed a wall on the Gaza-Egypt border.

Israel earlier imposed a blockade of food and fuel supplies to the Gaza Strip following almost daily rocket attacks on Israeli border regions by insurgents based in the enclave.