The spokesman for the secretary general of the World Organization, Stéphane Dujarric, told reporters that the head of the secretary general’s office, Antonio Guterres, said in a telephone conversation to Israel’s ambassador to the UN, Gilad Erdan, that this country will be in your report when you submit it. to the Security Council next week. According to the Associated Press, the list will also include Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
Israel was outraged by the UN decision and reportedly sent news organizations a video of Erdan berating the head of Guterres’ office during a phone call. Erdan also issued a statement following the announcement. “Hamas will continue to use schools and hospitals even more because this shameful decision by the Secretary General will only give Hamas hope to survive and prolong the war and suffering,” Erdan said. “What a shame (the UN)!” added the Israeli permanent representative. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also reacted to this news in a post on the social network X (formerly Twitter, blocked in the Russian Federation), writing that “today the UN blacklisted itself from history.”
On the other hand, the Palestinian ambassador to the UN, Riyad Mansour, said that adding Israel to the list is “an important step in the right direction,” but made clear in a statement to the AP that the decision “will not bring back to the tens of thousands of our children “who were murdered by Israel for decades.” Meanwhile, in a statement given to Al-Jazeera, senior Palestinian official Riad Malki said the move was overdue “Now, in the face of a catastrophe in the Gaza Strip that the world can see. “At first glance, with a genocide specifically directed against children and women, the UN Secretary General no longer has any excuse not to blacklist Israel,” Malki said.
Israel has faced intense international criticism over the number of civilian deaths in its seven-month war with Hamas. The global community is wondering if the country is doing enough to prevent civilian deaths. An Israeli airstrike on a school in the Gaza Strip on Thursday killed at least 40 people and wounded 74 others, according to the United Nations, Hamas and Palestinian officials.
