UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres says the Israeli killing of Palestinians in Gaza is at an unprecedented level.
– I’ve never seen such a level of death and destruction as we are seeing in Gaza in the last few months, he said sadly.
In an interview with the Associated Press (AP), the UN chief says it is “unrealistic” to expect the UN to play a role in Gaza’s future, either as administrator of the territory or with any kind of peacekeeping force – simply because it is considered completely unlikely that Israel would accept such a solution.
However, Guterres stresses that the UN “will be available to support any ceasefire” and that a ceasefire is urgently needed.
– The level of suffering we are witnessing in Gaza is unprecedented in my mandate as secretary-general of the United Nations.
“The only solution”
The UN has had a military monitoring mission in the Middle East since 1948 and the UN secretary-general said that “of course, we’ll be ready to do whatever the international community asked for us”.
However, he does not believe that Israel will accept UN involvement or authority, nor is it certain that Israel’s main ally, the United States, will want to see such a solution.
The “only solution”, according to Guterres, is a two-state solution with a sovereign Palestinian state – something the Israeli government opposes. According to the UN chief, however, there are no other options.
– I do not think you can have two peoples living together if they are not in a basis of equality, and if they are not in a basis of respect – mutual respect of their rights. So the two-state solution is, in my opinion, a must if we want to have peace in the Middle East.
41 000 dead
On October 7, Hamas carried out several attacks on southern Israel, killing around 1,140 Israelis and foreign nationals, according to government sources.
Since then, Israel has bombed and launched a massive invasion of Gaza in which nearly 41,000 Palestinians have now been killed – the vast majority of them women and children.
Is there any humanity left?
Reports of another horrific attack today on one of our @UNRWA schools in #Gaza city.
Children reported killed & injured. Some were burnt to death. #Gaza is no place for children anymore.
They are the first casualty of this merciless war.
We cannot…— Philippe Lazzarini (@UNLazzarini) August 21, 2024
Additionally, tens of thousands have sustained injuries or are unaccounted for beneath the rubble, and a significant majority of Gaza’s population has been displaced.
Benjamin Netanyahu’s government has repeatedly accused the UN of being “anti-Israeli” or even “anti-Semitic” in its condemnation of alleged Israeli war crimes.
