UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres has condemned Israel’s "total neglect" of the deaths of civilians and destruction caused by its military aggression in Gaza, warning that there are “strong reasons to believe” war crimes have been committed in the Palestinian territory.
Guterres made the remarks in an exclusive interview with Reuters on Wednesday, drawing attention to the widespread destruction and loss of life, which he said could be the result of a disregard for civilian safety and international law.
“I think there was something fundamentally wrong in the way this operation was conducted with total neglect in relation to the deaths of civilians and to the destruction of Gaza,” he said, Reuters reported on Thursday.
The UN chief noted that Gaza was destroyed as a result of the war, while Israel failed to achieve its declared objective to "eliminate" the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas.
The human cost of the ongoing genocidal war has been catastrophic, with more than 70,000 deaths reported in Gaza since October 2023.
When asked whether the occupying regime’s aggression could amount to war crimes, the UN chief responded, “There are strong reasons to believe that that possibility might be a reality."
Israel’s UN envoy Danny Danon criticized Guterres for his remarks, accusing him of moral failure for not visiting the occupied territories in the wake of October 7, when Hamas launched a retaliatory attack against the regime.
However, Guterres had been blocked by Israeli authorities from visiting. In October 2023, then–foreign minister Israel Katz, now the minister of military affairs, confirmed that the UN chief was barred from entry.
The world body has long complained of obstacles to delivering and distributing desperately-needed aid in Gaza, blaming impediments on the Israeli regime and lawlessness.
Two months into a US-brokered ceasefire deal between Tel Aviv and Hamas, rights groups and ceasefire monitors say the regime's genocide in Gaza has continued, causing further deaths and destruction.
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