Amid the heavy aerial exchange between Israeli forces and the Palestinian militant group Hamas, the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Sunday called in an emergency Security Council meeting to discuss the status of the armed conflict. During the meeting, Guterres expressed concern that the hostilities in Israel and Gaza were “utterly appalling” and should come to an end.
During the first meeting of the Council on the conflict, Guterres even said that the UN is “actively engaging all sides towards an immediate ceasefire”.
Stephane Dujarric, the spokesperson of Antonio Guterres in response to the questions asked by media said, “The Secretary-General is dismayed by the increasing number of civilian casualties, including the death of ten members of the same family, including children, as a result of an Israeli airstrike last night in the al-Shati camp in Gaza.”
The comments came after Israel attacked Gaza Strip with several air strikes that led to civilian causalities and demolished the 13-floor Gaza building housing Qatar-based Al Jazeera and The Associated Press news agency, to which Palestinian militants again retaliated by firing back barrages of rockets.
The UN chief also warned that this armed conflict from both the sides could plunge the Middle-eastern region into an “uncontainable” crisis, due to heavy loss of property and human lives.
The conflict that has arisen between Israel and Palestine is one of the worst fights in the region since 2014. Israeli airstrikes on Gaza since Monday have killed around 145 people including 41 children, and wounded another 1,100 people, while Palestinian militant group Hamas till now has fired at least 2,300 rockets at Israel which killed 10 people, including a child and a soldier, and wounding over 560 Israelis.