UN Secretary General Believes Israel's War In Gaza Is Fundamentally Salah

JAKARTA - Secretary-General of the United Nations (UN) on Wednesday believed Israel's military operations in the Gaza Strip were fundamentally wrong, having strong reasons to believe war crimes had been committed.

"I think there is something fundamentally wrong in how this operation was carried out with total neglect of the deaths of civilians and the destruction of Gaza," Secretary General Guterres said in an interview at a Reuters NEXT conference in New York.

"The goal is to destroy Hamas. Gaza has been destroyed, but Hamas has not been destroyed. So there is something fundamentally wrong in this way done," he continued to Reuters Editor-in-Chief Alessandra Badminton.

As of yesterday, the death toll from Israeli aggression in the Palestinian enclave has reached 70,117 people, the majority of women and children, while injuries have reached 170,999 since October 2023, Palestinian media reports WAFA.

The war was sparked by an attack by a Palestinian militant group led by Hamas against Israel on October 7, 2023, which killed 1,200 people and held 251 people hostage, according to Israel.

When asked if war crimes had occurred, Secretary General Guterres said: "There is a strong reason to believe that it might happen."

In response, Israel's Ambassador to the United Nations Danny Danon told Reuters: "The only crime committed is moral blasphemy that more than two years after the horrific 7 October massacre, the UN Secretary-General has yet to visit Israel and instead uses his high platform to condemn and condemn Israel and the Israeli people at every opportunity."

However, in October last year, then Israeli Foreign Minister, Israel Katz - who now serves as Minister of Defense - said he had banned Secretary General Guterres from entering the country.

A fragile ceasefire has been in effect since October 10, but Israel continues to attack Gaza and dismantle what it calls Hamas infrastructure. Hamas and Israel blame each other for violating the US-backed agreement.

Secretary General Guterres praised the United States - an ally of Israel - for its role in increasing access to aid in Gaza, where global hunger monitoring said in August that hunger had hit.

"There is excellent cooperation in humanitarian aid between the United Nations and the US, and I hope this will be maintained and developed," he said.

The United Nations has long complained of obstacles in shipping and distribution of aid in Gaza, blaming Israel and unlawful violations of these obstacles. Israel has criticized the UN-led operation and accused Hamas of stealing aid, which militants have denied.