Scandal at the UN meeting. The Security Council met urgently to debate a resolution on the situation in the Middle East
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres on Tuesday said Hamas' deadly October 7 rampage in southern Israel "did not happen in a vacuum," but came as Palestinian civilians suffer "years of suffocating occupation" at the hands of Israeli forces, CNN reports.
His comments, less than three weeks after the brutal killing of 1,400 people by Hamas on Israeli soil, have infuriated Israeli officials.
Here's what he said: Guterres noted that “the grievances of the Palestinian people cannot justify the appalling attacks by Hamas," adding, "And those appalling attacks cannot justify the collective punishment of the Palestinian people. ... Even war has rules.”
“It is important to also recognize the attacks by Hamas did not happen in a vacuum. The Palestinian people have been subjected to 56 years of suffocating occupation,” he told the Security Council on Tuesday.
Palestinians “have seen their land steadily devoured by settlements and plagued by violence," he said.
He reiterated his appeal for “an immediate humanitarian ceasefire,” and urged a two-state solution to establish an independent Palestine alongside Israel.
Israel's reaction: His comments angered Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen, who was in the chamber as Guterres spoke. “In what world do you live?” said Cohen. “Definitely, this is not our world.”
"After the October 7th massacre, there is no place for a balanced approach. Hamas must be erased off the face of the planet!” Cohen wrote in a social media post on Tuesday.
Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, Gilad Erdan, called on Guterres to resign, saying he had “expressed an understanding for terrorism and murder.”
