Israel seems to have been miffed over the unexpected bashing that it received from United Nations chief Antonio Guterres over the country’s actions in the Hamas-controlled Palestinian territory of Gaza.
Israel will deny visas to United Nations (UN) officials, its ambassador to the UN has said, as the country’s spat with the international organisation deepens, Al Jazeera reported.
Terming the Guterres’s speech at the UN Security Council (UNSC) meeting as ‘shocking’, which according to many was a “very balanced approach”, Israeli ambassador to the UN Gilad Erdan said: “Due to his [Guterres’s] remarks, we will refuse to issue visas to UN representatives.”
The UN chief’s speech that highlighted the ‘truth’ of the Israel-Palestine conflict, left Israel so ‘furious’ that its officials called on the UN chief to resign.
In fact, Israeli ambassador to the UN Gilad Erdan said: “The time has come to teach them (United Nations) a lesson.”
United Nations (UN) secretary general Antonio Guterres slammed Israel’s actions on Gaza, including relentless bombardment and cutting supply of humanitarian aid.
Reiterating his call for a ceasefire of hostilities in Gaza, the UN chief said that international law has been violated in the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.
Israel has been relentlessly and indiscriminately dropping bombs across the Gaza Strip since October 07 – the day Hamas launched a surprise attack on Israel.
According to Israeli authorities, at least 1400 people were killed in the Hamas’ strike on Israel.
However, the Israel’s retaliatory indiscriminate airstrikes have killed over 5800 people, including over 1500 children, across the Gaza Strip.
While addressing the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), the UN chief recognised “the attacks by Hamas did not happen in a vacuum”.
“The Palestinian people have been subjected to 56 years of suffocating occupation,” UN secretary general Antonio Guterres said.
“But the grievances of the Palestinian people cannot justify the appalling attacks by Hamas. And those appalling attacks cannot justify the collective punishment of the Palestinian people,” he said.
Guterres also criticised Israel without naming it, saying “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.”