United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned on Tuesday that Lebanon is on the brink of all-out war due to the Israeli escalation, stressing the need to respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all countries.
This came in statements to reporters at the United Nations headquarters in New York City, during which he touched on the general situation in the Gaza Strip and the region.
Speaking about the genocidal war committed by Israel in Gaza and Lebanon, Guterres said, “The nightmare in Gaza has entered its second year,” adding that this year was a year of crises in Gaza, humanitarian, political, diplomatic and moral.
Guterres stated that Gaza has become a center of unimaginable suffering after October 7, 2023, noting the killing of civilians, journalists, humanitarian relief workers and UN staff.
He added that Israel attacked residential areas in northern Gaza, evacuated hospitals and cut off electricity.
andGuterres warned of an Israeli draft law to prevent the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) from working in the occupied Palestinian territories, stressing that the Israeli move would be disastrous.
Guterres indicated that he had been warning for months about the danger of conflict spreading in the region, and said that the Middle East had become a powder keg and many parties were ready to ignite it.
He pointed out that the occupied West Bank had reached the boiling point, and that the attacks against Lebanon threatened the entire region, and stated that more than 2,000 people were killed in the Israeli attacks on Lebanon.
Guterres stressed the necessity of a two-state solution, and that all peoples of the region have the right to live in peace.
Since last September 23, Israel has been waging a war on Lebanon, through unprecedented air strikes that even targeted the capital, Beirut, in addition to attempts at a ground incursion that it began in the south, ignoring international warnings and UN resolutions.
According to official figures, Israel has killed 2,119 people and wounded 10,019 since the beginning of the mutual bombing with Hezbollah on October 8, 2023, including a large number of children and women, and more than 1.2 million displaced people.
Hezbollah responds daily by launching missiles, drones, and artillery shells targeting military sites and settlements across Israel, and while Israel announces some of its human and material losses, Israeli military censorship imposes a strict blackout on most of the losses, according to observers.
For decades, Israel has occupied Arab lands in Lebanon, Syria, and Palestine, and rejects the establishment of an independent Palestinian state on the borders before the 1967 war, with East Jerusalem as its capital.