UN chief says Hamas attacks did not happen in a vacuum

UN secretary general ,António Guterres said that Hamas attacks didn’t happen in a vacuum and that it is a result of 56 years of occupation.

“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”, Guterres said at the meeting of the UN Security Council on Tuesday.

“their economy stifled; their people displaced and their homes demolished. Their hopes for a political solution to their plight have been vanishing,” Guterres added.

Guterres said the bombardment and blockade of Gaza amounted to the collective punishment of the Palestinian people and violated international law and called for immediate ceasefire, comments that sparked a fierce row with Israel.

Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen announced on X he would no longer meet with Guterres.