NEW YORK: UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Monday called for an immediate halt to hostilities in Gaza, Israel and the wider region, as he urged leaders to stop taking action that causes civilians to “pay with their lives and their futures.”
Marking the second anniversary of the Oct. 7 attacks by Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups against Israel, he also reiterated his demand for the unconditional release of all hostages still held in the territory.
“End the suffering for all,” Guterres said of the situation in Gaza. “This is a humanitarian catastrophe on a scale that defies comprehension.”
Hamas’s “large-scale terror attack” two years ago left more than 1,250 Israelis and foreign nationals dead. More than 250 people, including women, children and the elderly, were abducted and taken to Gaza.
The ensuing assault on the territory by the Israeli military has killed more than 67,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and hundreds of thousands have been injured. The UN believes these figures to be underestimates, given the possibility that thousands of bodies remain buried under the rubble of destroyed buildings.
