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UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres will not give up on realizing a ceasefire in Gaza. Photo/Reuters
GAZA – The failure to demand a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip shows the United Nations (UN) as a “paralyzed” organization. However, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres admitted that he would not give up.
“Even though the authority and credibility of the institution are greatly underestimated, I promise, I will not give up,” said Guterres at the Doha Forum in Qatar, reported by the BBC.
On Friday, America vetoed a resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, saying such a move was dangerous and unrealistic.
The vote came after Guterres invoked the rarely used Article 99 of the UN charter to draw to the council’s attention “any matter which in his opinion may threaten the maintenance of international peace and security”. He explained: “We face a grave risk of the collapse of the humanitarian system.”
Guterres called for a ceasefire to the rarely used force, saying “we face a grave risk of the collapse of the humanitarian system.”
“The situation is rapidly deteriorating into a disaster with potentially irreversible impacts for the Palestinian people as a whole and for peace and security in the region,” he said.
Meanwhile, Israel’s national security adviser, Tzachi Hanegbi, told Israel’s Channel 12 TV on Saturday evening that the US had set no deadline for Israel to achieve its goal of dismantling Hamas and returning all hostages.
“The evaluation that this cannot be measured in weeks is true, and I’m not sure it can be measured in months,” he said.
(ahm)