New Delhi: Declaring UN secretary general Antonio Guterres “persona non grata”, Israeli foreign affairs minister Israel Katz announced on X that he had “banned” Guterres from entering his country, alleging that the UN chief did not “unequivocally condemn” Iran’s missile attack on Tuesday.
“Anyone who cannot unequivocally condemn Iran’s heinous attack on Israel, as almost every country in the world has done, does not deserve to step foot on Israeli soil,” Katz said on Wednesday (October 2).
He also alleged that Guterres did not “denounce” Hamas’s attack on Israel on October 7 last year or lead “any efforts to declare them a terrorist organisation”.
“A secretary-general who gives backing to terrorists, rapists and murderers from Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis and now Iran – the mothership of global terror – will be remembered as a stain on the history of the UN,” Katz added.
Later on Wednesday while addressing an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council, Guterres said he “again strongly condemn[ed] yesterday’s massive missile attack by Iran on Israel.”
“It is high time to stop the sickening cycle of escalation after escalation that is leading the people of the Middle East straight over the cliff. Each escalation has served as a pretext for the next,” the UN chief added.
Iran launched around 200 missiles at Israel on Tuesday, with the country’s Revolutionary Guard Corps saying it was in response to the “martyrdom” of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah over the weekend and Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in July.
The Associated Press reported that a Palestinian man was killed by one missile strike in the West Bank and that two people were lightly wounded by shrapnel in central and southern Israel.
At the UN Security Council Guterres also called for a cessation of hostilities in the Gaza Strip, the immediate release of all hostages held by Palestinian militant groups as well as “irreversible progress” towards a two-state solution in Israel and the Palestinian territories.
He continued to say that he condemned attacks on civilians, adding that over 1,700 people have been killed in Lebanon since October 2023.
Around the time of the Iranian missile attack, two Palestinian men killed seven people and injured 16 others in a shooting and knife attack near Tel Aviv. The two men were “neutralised” soon after by police and a civilian, a police statement had said.
Hamas has since claimed responsibility for the attack, as per the AP.
In solidarity with Hamas after its October 7, 2023 attack on Israel that killed around 1,200 people, the Iran-backed Hezbollah began shelling areas in Israel near its border with Lebanon.
Israel has stepped up its offensive against Hezbollah in recent days and killed its leader Nasrallah in a strike on Saturday. It also announced the launch of a ground offensive into Lebanon yesterday and that eight of its soldiers died in combat on Wednesday.
In response to Hamas’s attack last year, Israel launched an offensive into Gaza – where Hamas is based – killing over 41,000 Palestinian people according to Gaza’s health ministry.
With inputs from DW.
