The war in Gaza reaches the UN Security Council and provokes a bitter clash between Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and Israel. So much so that Foreign Minister Eli Cohen, present in New York, refused to meet with him, while Israeli Ambassador Gilad Erdan called for his immediate resignation.
"It is important to recognize that Hamas' attacks did not come out of nowhere," Guterres said, speaking in an incandescent atmosphere. The Palestinian people have been subjected to 56 years of suffocating occupation." He added that of course, "the suffering of the Palestinian people cannot justify the appalling attacks of Hamas," but also that those same attacks "cannot justify the collective punishment of the Palestinian people." Guterres then deplored the "clear violations of international humanitarian law" that are taking place in the Strip and insisted on the call for "a humanitarian ceasefire", which Israel has repeatedly sent back to sender.
The Israeli representative was the first to react: "A UN Secretary-General who shows understanding for the campaign of mass murder of children, women and the elderly is not fit to lead the UN. I call on him to resign immediately."
"There is no point in talking to those who show compassion for the most terrible atrocities committed against the citizens of Israel and the Jewish people.
There are simply no words." Cohen on X added to the mix: "I'm not going to meet with the UN Secretary-General. After October 7, there is no room for an equidistant approach. Hamas must be wiped out of the world." Netanyahu's foreign minister also warned that "Europe will be the next to be hit by Hamas" and that if it does not act "it will have terrorists at the door."
"The responsibility for October 7 lies with Hamas, only Hamas.
Not Israel's, not innocent civilians," U.S. National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said in the evening. Guterres' words also outraged the families of the 222 Israeli hostages, who called them "scandalous." The secretary-general, they insisted, "shamefully ignores the fact that a genocide was perpetrated against the Jewish people on Saturday, October 7, and found an indirect way to justify the horrors that were committed against the Jews."
The clash between the United Nations and Israel was in a sense expected given that the disagreements are obvious: starting with the humanitarian aid to Gaza. Israel has repeatedly expressed its fear that they will reach Hamas instead of the civilian population.
And he was adamant about fuel supplies, which Guterres invoked as necessary for the assistance activities of UNRWA, the UN organization for Palestinian refugees. The UN chief has repeatedly opposed air raids in both the north and south of the Strip, while Israel has continued to pound Gaza and has increasingly increased the intensity of attacks "against Hamas' military facilities and its leaders." Last night alone, according to the army, more than 400 targets were hit in the Palestinian enclave with the elimination of dozens of men. The deputy commanders of the Nuseirat, Shati and Furqan battalions were all killed. The goal is to According to the military leadership, the aim is to minimize Hamas' resistance to entering the Strip by land.
The army is pushing for the invasion as soon as possible, repeating every day that it is now "ready". But the final decision, explained Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi, will be made together with the political power. Which evidently has very clear fears of the American ally for a possible escalation of the conflict throughout the Middle East, especially with Iran. The Lebanese Hezbollah does not stop attacking northern Israel. Halevi cited "tactical and even strategic considerations" among the causes that delayed the ground offensive. "However, we are taking advantage of every minute to be better prepared," the chief of staff stressed while speaking to journalists on the southern front, right in front of Gaza. And we continue to hit the enemy more and more, killing terrorists, destroying infrastructure and gathering more intelligence."
"We are facing the next step, it is coming", promised the soldiers Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu who today received French President Emmanuel Macron in Tel Aviv, with the latter launching the proposal for an anti-Hamas coalition based on the one that fought ISIS.
For Israel - on which a large amount of rockets were poured from Gaza today - there also continues to be the riddle of hostages, especially after the latest dropper releases by Hamas. Today, leaflets rained down in the Khan Yunes area through which the Jewish state asked the local population to help in the search for Israelis held captive in the Strip in exchange for "discretion, protection and cash prizes".
The death toll in Gaza - where an exhausted population is trying to move further and further south - has reached 5,791 dead, including 2,360 children and children. According to the local health ministry, 12 hospitals and 32 clinics have already had to close their doors.
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