At a press conference held at the UN headquarters in New York on the 6th (local time), UN Secretary-General António Guterres said, “The Gaza Strip in Palestine is becoming a graveyard for children,” and Israel strongly protested when he called for a ceasefire between Israel and the Palestinian armed group Hamas. . Israel sparked controversy on the 24th of last month when General Guterres made a statement to the effect that Israel’s policy of oppressing Palestinians was in some way responsible for Hamas’ surprise preemptive attack on the 7th of the same month. At the time, the Israeli side called for his immediate resignation, saying, “The UN Secretary-General supported Hamas’ massacre of civilians.”
President Guterres said on the 6th, “Hundreds of boys and girls are dying or injured every day,” and expressed concern that “the nightmare in the Gaza Strip is a ‘human crisis’ that goes beyond a humanitarian crisis.” He continued, “United Nations facilities, including civilians, hospitals, refugee camps, mosques, churches and shelters, are under attack due to Israeli military ground operations and ongoing bombing. “No one is safe,” he pointed out.
At the same time, he criticized Hamas for “using civilians as human shields and continuing to fire rockets indiscriminately toward Israel.” He also demanded the immediate release of all Israeli civilian hostages being held.
View largerIsraeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen (right), who attended the same meeting on the 24th of last month, held up a photo of an Israeli civilian kidnapped by Hamas and protested, saying, “Do you want a world where terrorism is rampant?” At the time, Israel called for President Guterres’ immediate resignation. New York = AP NewsisIn response, Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen criticized President Guterres on social media ‘X’ (formerly Twitter), saying, “Shame on you.” Minister Cohen said, “More than 30 infants and children, from as young as 9 months old, who witnessed their parents being murdered before their eyes, are being held in Gaza against their will,” adding, “The problem in Gaza is Hamas, not the effort to eliminate Hamas.” “It is not an Israeli activity,” he emphasized.
On this day, the Gaza Strip’s Ministry of Health announced that a total of 10,022 Gaza residents have died since the outbreak of war. Of these, 4,104 are children.
On the same day, the United Nations Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) also reported to The World Health Organization (WHO) also expressed concern that 4,600 pregnant women and 380 newborns living at UN protection facilities in the Gaza Strip require treatment, but are at great risk as medical facility operation rates are dropping due to Israeli airstrikes.
Source: Donga
Mark Jones is a world traveler and journalist for News Rebeat. With a curious mind and a love of adventure, Mark brings a unique perspective to the latest global events and provides in-depth and thought-provoking coverage of the world at large.