🔥 Urgent Now a joint force between the Al-Qassam Brigades and the Al-Quds Brigades is besieging a large Zionist force in Khan Yunis. This comes after luring them into a tight ambush
Israel vows to ‘teach UN a lesson’ by banning staff after it comments that Hamas attack ‘did not happen in a vacuum’
Israel has said the “time has come to teach the United Nations a lesson” by banning UN officials from visiting the country – in a row over remarks from secretary-general Antonio Guterres that the deadly 7 October attack by Hamas “did not happen in a vacuum” and had to be seen in the context of decades of occupation of the Palestinians.
Speaking at a UN Security Council meeting, Mr Guterrres said that “It is important to … recognise the attacks by Hamas did not happen in a vacuum. The Palestinian people have been subjected to 56 years of suffocating occupation.” However, he added that the grievances of the Palestinian people could not justify “the horrifying and unprecedented October 7 acts of terror”.
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| HAMAS members march and display during an anniversary |
Mr Guterres also condemned "clear violations of international humanitarian law," calling Israel's constant bombardment of Hamas-controlled Gaza in response to the attack, and the level of destruction and civilian casualties, "alarming." He said the Hamas attacks “cannot justify the collective punishment of the Palestinian people”. The remarks have sparked a furious reaction from Israeli officials. Israel’s ambassador to the UN, Gilad Erdan, called for Mr Guterres to resign directly after the speech , describing it as “shocking”. A statement from the Israeli foreign ministry accused Mr Guterres of “supporting the monstrous violence of the Hamas terrorists”.
Escalating the row on Wednesday, he told Israeli Army Radio: “Due to his remarks we will refuse to issue visas to UN representatives. We have already refused a visa for under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs Martin Griffiths. The time has come to teach them a lesson.”
The UN is heavily-involved in providing humanitarian aid to Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. Mr Guterres has consistently called for a ceasefire and for an end to civilian deaths. It is not clear how far the visa ban extends within the UN hierarchy. A large number of UN workers, for instance, are employed by, the UN Palestinian relief agency, UNRWA.
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| Palestine resistance group better known as Hamas |
More than 1,400 Israelis were killed on 7 October, while at least 5,791 Palestinians in Gaza have been killed by airstrikes, according to the local, Hamas-run ministry.
“Protecting civilians can never mean using them as human shields,” the secretary-general said in his address, without mentioning Hamas. He added that it “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”. Israel has issued an evacuation order calling on Palestinians to move from northern Gaza to southern Gaza as it prepares for an expected ground invasion.