CNN –
A heated diplomatic row broke out between Israel and the United Nations, with Israeli officials demanding the resignation of Secretary-General Antonio Guterres after he said Hamas’ attacks on the country on October 7 “did not take place in a vacuum.”
At a Security Council meeting on Tuesday, Guterres called for a humanitarian ceasefire amid the worsening crisis in Gaza, telling the Security Council that there were “clear violations of international humanitarian law.”
He called Hamas’s Oct. 7 killing and kidnapping attack “appalling” and said: “Nothing can justify the deliberate killing, injury and kidnapping of civilians or the firing of rockets at civilian targets.”
“It is important to recognize that Hamas’ attacks did not occur in a vacuum,” Guterres said. “The Palestinian people have been subjected to oppressive occupation for 56 years. They have seen their land continually consumed by settlements and wracked by violence. their economy ground to a halt; Their people were displaced and their homes destroyed.”
“But the grievances of the Palestinian people cannot justify Hamas’ horrific attacks. And these horrific attacks cannot justify the collective punishment of the Palestinian people. Excellencies, even war has rules,” he added.
Majdi Fathi/NurPhoto/AP
Palestinian children receive food from a United Nations relief agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) in Gaza on Tuesday.
His comments angered Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen, who was in the chamber when Guterres spoke. “What world do you live in?” Cohen said. “This is definitely not our world.”
Cohen later wrote on social media: “After the October 7 massacre, there is no room for a balanced approach. “Hamas must be wiped from the face of the earth!”
Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, Gilad Erdan, called on Guterres to resign, saying he had “expressed sympathy for terrorism and murder.”
Then on Wednesday, Erdan said his country would block visas for United Nations officials. It has already rejected a request from UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Martin Griffiths, Erdan told the Israeli army radio station.
“It’s time to teach them a lesson,” Erdan added.
The worsening dispute highlights tensions surrounding calls by some international observers for a ceasefire amid a worsening humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
To “set the record straight,” Guterres said Wednesday he was “shocked by the misinterpretations of some of my statements yesterday in the Security Council – as if I were justifying terrorist acts by Hamas.”
“That’s wrong. “The opposite was true,” he told reporters, reiterating his condemnation of the Oct. 7 attacks.
But Guterres did not back down from his call for a ceasefire on Tuesday or from his allusion to the historical treatment of the Palestinians.
Erdan responded to Guterres’ comments later on Wednesday, doubling down on his earlier criticism of the secretary-general. Erdan called it a “disgrace” that Guterres did not retract or apologize for his comments.
“A Secretary General who does not understand that the murder of innocents can never be understood from any ‘background’ cannot be a Secretary General,” Erdan wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
The main United Nations agency operating in Gaza said it was forced to suspend operations until Wednesday evening due to fuel shortages as the area faced days of air strikes and a near-total blockade following the Hamas attacks.
United Nations efforts to advocate for a ceasefire have so far failed as the United States vetoed a draft resolution introduced by Brazil last week.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken told the agency on Tuesday that “humanitarian pauses must be considered” to allow aid to reach civilians in Gaza, notably avoiding the phrase “ceasefire.” On Monday, National Security Council spokesman John Kirby rejected calls for a ceasefire, telling CNN that Hamas must first release hostages held in Gaza.
Almost three weeks after the outbreak of fighting, the UN Security Council remains divided over how to deal with the crisis.
Two separate resolutions on the issue, introduced by the United States and Russia, failed on Wednesday.
The U.S. draft resolution called for “humanitarian pauses,” not a ceasefire, to allow aid to reach civilians in the Gaza Strip. The US had previously vetoed a Brazilian draft that called for a humanitarian pause.
But Russia and China vetoed the U.S. resolution – a move that U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield called “deeply” disappointing.
Following their comments, China’s UN Ambassador Zhang Jun said: “What we reject is that the draft text does not call on the parties concerned to stop the indiscriminate and asymmetric use of force.”
The Russian resolution proposed on Wednesday also did not receive approval in the Council.
According to the Israeli government, more than 200 hostages are being held by Hamas and Islamic Jihad in Gaza. An update released on Wednesday said 135 of the hostages had foreign passports from 25 countries. Thailand had the most nationals of any country with 54, followed by Argentina with 15 nationals, followed by Germany and the USA with 12 nationals each.
Meanwhile, the World Health Organization on Tuesday reiterated its calls for a ceasefire, saying it was “unable to distribute fuel and essential health supplies to major hospitals in northern Gaza due to a lack of security guarantees.” Six hospitals in Gaza were forced to close due to a lack of fuel, the WHO added.