Addressing Tuesday’s debate within the Council on the worsening disaster in Israel and Palestine, the UN chief stated that though nothing may justify the “appalling” assaults by Hamas of seven October which triggered the siege and bombardment of Gaza, it was vital to acknowledge they “didn’t occur in a vacuum” and didn’t justify the collective punishment of Palestinians.
Following Secretary-General António Guterres’ briefing on Tuesday, Israel’s ambassador to the UN Gilad Erdan tweeted that, in impact, Mr. Guterres’s speech had sought to justify Hamas’s brutal assault which left some 1,400 lifeless, primarily civilians.
Resignation demand
He demanded that the UN chief resign, and later stated that Israel would now withhold visas from UN officers.
Israel’s international minister Eli Cohen additionally accused Mr. Guterres of justifying terrorism and cancelled a deliberate bilateral assembly with the UN chief on Tuesday.
In an announcement to correspondents on the stakeout outdoors the Security Council on Wednesday morning, Mr. Guterres stated he was “shocked by the misrepresentation by a few of my assertion.”
Acknowledging that he had certainly spoken of Palestinian grievances, he pressured he had additionally stated within the Council that “the grievances of the Palestinian individuals can’t justify the appalling assaults by Hamas.”
With out referring to Israeli diplomats particularly, the UN chief stated it was “essential to set the report straight – particularly out of respect to the victims and to their households.”
