NOURNEWS- UN Secretary-General António Guterres decried the collective punishment of Palestinians by the Zionist regime, indirectly criticizing Israel's civilian evacuation order in Gaza.
Israel, in response, called for Guterres' resignation and canceled their scheduled meeting with him.
During his speech, Guterres reiterated his call for a Gaza ceasefire, emphasizing an end to violations of international law in the conflict between Israel and the Palestinian resistance group, Hamas.
The Israeli regime has relentlessly bombed the besieged Gaza Strip since Hamas's surprise attack on occupied territories on October 7 after which Israel severed essential supplies to Gaza's 2.3 million residents, an action criticized by the UN as a form of collective punishment. Additionally, Israel's assault on the territory resulted in the loss of at least 5,791 lives, according to Gaza authorities.
Israel's evacuation orders for northern Gaza residents displaced over a million Palestinian people, even as Israeli air raids continued across the region.
Addressing the UN Security Council, Guterres called for the protection of civilians and warned of the potential for a wider regional conflict.
Guterres indirectly criticized Israel, stating, "protecting civilians does not mean ordering more than one million people to evacuate to the south, where there is no shelter, no food, no water, no medicine, and no fuel, and then continuing to bomb the south itself."
The Israeli regime's UN ambassador, Gilad Erdan, expressed shock and disapproval of Guterres' speech.
UN agencies urgently appealed for unimpeded emergency aid to be allowed into Gaza, emphasizing the need for more than 20 times the current aid deliveries.
Although a small amount of humanitarian aid has entered Gaza from the Egyptian side since Saturday, Guterres described this limited assistance as "a drop of aid in an ocean of need."
NOURNEWS