Gaza situation is 'morally, politically and legally intolerable', UN chief says

Comments came as Israel launches long-anticipated ground offensive in Gaza city

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday described the situation in Gaza as “morally, politically and legally intolerable”, saying the devastation and loss of life had reached levels unseen during his tenure.

Mr Guterres told reporters before the UN General Assembly that neighbourhoods were being destroyed amid the "systematic destruction of Gaza city".

"We are seeing massive killing of civilians in a way that I do not remember in any conflict since I am Secretary General,” he said. “We are seeing dramatic obstacles to the distribution of humanitarian aid. At a certain moment, it completely stopped.”

His comments came as Israel launched its long-anticipated ground offensive in Gaza city on Tuesday against Hamas militants. The operation has prompted widespread international alarm, with UN officials condemning the rising civilian casualties.

The UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry (COI) concluded in a new report that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza. It urged governments to halt the violence and pursue accountability.

When asked about the findings, Mr Guterres said the legal determination of genocide did not alter his view that “what’s happening in Gaza … today is horrendous”, after Hamas’s attacks on Israel two years ago.

This month, France and Saudi Arabia are leading a UN summit in which several western governments, angered by what they see as Israeli intransigence, plan to recognise a Palestinian state.

Mr Guterres defended the two-state solution as the only viable path to peace.

“Israel must understand that the one-state solution in the subjugation of the Palestinian people without rights is absolutely intolerable. The two-state solution remains the only viable alternative. Without it, there will be no peace in the Middle East.”

Asked by The National whether he agreed with US and Israeli assessments that the growing number of states recognising Palestine was a “gift to Hamas”, Mr Guterres said: "The two-state solution is not something that is in Hamas's programme. It is a gift to the Palestinian people that have suffered also a lot, also because of Hamas.”