Israel will stop granting UN officials visas

Antonio Guterres stated that the Hamas attack did not occur “in a vacuum,” which sparked the controversy.

In reaction for remarks made this week by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who stated that the attack carried out by Hamas on 7 October did not occur “in a vacuum,” Israel has declared it will reject visa applications from UN personnel.

Israeli ambassador to the UN Gilad Erdan said on Wednesday, “We will refuse to issue visas to UN representatives due to [Guterres’] remarks.” “We have previously denied Martin Griffiths, the undersecretary general for humanitarian affairs, a visa. It’s time to impart some wisdom to them.

The Israeli envoy asserted that Guterres had “expressed a justification for terrorism and murder” on X, the former Twitter platform.

In response to Guterres’ statement to the 15-member Security Council on Tuesday, in which he seemed to criticise Israel for directing the evacuation of residents from northern Gaza to the southern enclave, Erdan made his remarks.

The UN head stated that the Palestinian people had been “subjected to 56 years of suffocating occupation” and that the Hamas onslaught earlier this month, which resulted in the deaths of almost 1,400 people, largely civilians, did not occur “in a vacuum.”

Additionally, according to Guterres, Israel’s response to the attack clearly amounts to “collective punishment” of the Palestinian people, which is prohibited by the Geneva Convention as a war crime.

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While several nations have applauded Guterres’ “very balanced approach,” Israel was “furious” and said that the comments simply served to excuse the attack by the Palestinian militant group, according to Al Jazeera. Additionally, Guterres has been called to resign by Israeli politicians.

In an apparent attempt to show that he had criticised both Israel and Hamas for their participation in the conflict, Guterres shared a section of his address on social media early on Wednesday. Guterres stated on X that “the grievances of the Palestinian people cannot justify the horrific attack by Hamas.” “The collective punishment of the Palestinian people cannot be justified by those heinous attacks.”

Later on in the day, Guterres addressed the matter and asserted to reporters that his remarks in the Security Council had been misrepresented. “I am appalled by some of the falsehoods in my remarks from yesterday’s Security Council – it seems like I was endorsing Hamas’ terrorist activities.”

In the weeks after the October 7 incident, Israeli soldiers have unleashed an unparalleled aerial bombardment on the besieged Gaza strip. Recent estimates from Gaza’s Health Ministry—run by Hamas—state that at least 5,700 people have perished there. This Thursday, the UK-based humanitarian organisation Save the Children announced that since the resumption of hostilities, almost 2,000 children have perished in Gaza.

The UN said earlier this month that the violence had resulted in the displacement of about 1 million people, or just less than half of Gaza’s population. In the upcoming days or weeks, Israel is anticipated to initiate a ground invasion of Gaza in response to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s vow to destroy Hamas.