United Nations secretary-general Antonio Guterres has condemned Israel for what he said are "clear violations of international humanitarian law" in its bombardment of Gaza.
While he also condemned the Hamas attack on Israel on Oct 7, he said the "appalling attacks cannot justify the collective punishment of the Palestinian people".
"Protecting civilians can never mean using them as human shields.
"Protecting civilians doesn't mean ordering more than one million people to evacuate to the South (of Gaza) where there is no shelter, no food, no water, no medicine and no fuel, and then continue to bomb the South itself.
"I am deeply concerned over the clear violations of international humanitarian law which we are witnessing in Gaza," he said when addressing the UN Security Council meeting at the UN headquarters in New York, on Tuesday.
“Let me be clear: no party to an armed conflict is above international humanitarian law,” Guterres (above) said.
He also noted that the Hamas attack, although unjustifiable, "did not happen in a vacuum".
“The Palestinian people have been subjected to 56 years of suffocating occupation. They have seen their land steadily devoured by settlements and plagued by violence; their economy stifled; their people displaced and their homes demolished. Their hopes for a political solution to their plight have been vanishing,” Guterres said.
His remarks prompted resignation calls from Israel's UN envoy Gilad Erdan who said it shows Guterres has "no compassion" for the Israeli civilians who were slain.
"There is no justification or point in talking to those who show compassion for the most terrible atrocities committed against the citizens of Israel and the Jewish people. There are simply no words," he said on X, formerly known as Twitter.
There are now draft resolutions calling for a ceasefire being considered by both the UN Security Council and the UN General Assembly.
One of them is from Jordan and Mauritania, representing the Arab Group and the Organisation of the Islamic Cooperation.
The UN General Assembly special session on Palestine will be held on Oct 26.
In the past 24 hours, some 704 people have died in Israeli strikes, according to the Health Ministry in Gaza.
The UN said this is the "highest fatality toll reported in a single day" since Oct 7, with families crushed in the "rubble of residential buildings", the Associated Press reported.
This brings the death toll to more than 5,700 people in Gaza, over the two weeks of Israeli bombardment.
The UN also said over a third of Gaza's 35 hospitals have closed after being damaged by air strikes or running out of fuel.
Meanwhile, Australian Defence Minister Richard Marles told public broadcaster ABC the country is sending a "significant number" of troops and planes for its citizens in the Middle East but did not state which country.
Captors were ‘friendly’
Israel says it will not heed calls for ceasefire and will continue attacks on Palestinian territories, in retaliation for the Oct 7 Hamas attack, from which about 200 Israelis are still held hostage.
Hamas yesterday released another two hostages, Nurit Cooper and Yocheved Lfishitz, 85.
Lifshitz, who shook hands with her captor and bid them "shalom" when she was freed, told reporters the capture was brutal and that she was beaten.
However, the captors were "friendly" and "gentle" with her when she was held hostage.
"They were very generous with us. Very kind. They kept us clean. We ate the same food they did, pitas with cucumber and white cheese," she told reporters in a press conference televised by multiple broadcasters.
Described by her family as a "peace activist", Yocheved also condemned the failure of the Israeli forces to stop the attack, despite the huge government expenditure to build security walls.
Her husband, Oded Lifshitz, 83, a former journalist who had reportedly campaigned for Palestinian rights, is still in Hamas custody. - Mkini
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