Israel calls for the UN’s Secretary General Antonio Guterres to resign after he says the Hamas raid ‘didn’t happen in a vacuum’

Israel has called on the UN Secretary General to resign, saying Hamas’ attacks cannot justify the “collective punishment of the Palestinian people.”

In a major diplomatic row, Israel’s UN ambassador said Antonio Guterres was “not fit” to lead the body after claiming the 1,400 killings did not take place “in a vacuum.”

The UN chief made the inflammatory comments during a high-level meeting of the 15-member Security Council ahead of an expected ground invasion of Gaza.

“The Palestinian people have been subjected to 56 years of suffocating occupation,” Guterres said.

“But the grievances of the Palestinian people cannot justify Hamas’ abhorrent attacks. And these abhorrent attacks cannot justify the collective punishment of the Palestinian people.”

In a major diplomatic row, Israel’s UN Ambassador Gilad Erdan (pictured) said UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was ‘not fit’ to lead the body after claiming the 1,400 killings did not take place ‘in a vacuum’.

Israeli Ambassador Gilad Erdan called the speech “shocking” and Mr Guterres was “completely disconnected from the reality of our region”.

He added: “The UN Secretary General, who understands the campaign of mass murder of children, women and the elderly, is not fit to lead the UN. I call on him to resign immediately. There is no justification or point in talking to those who show compassion for the most terrible atrocities committed against the citizens of Israel and the Jewish people.”

Earlier, Israel’s foreign minister said he would no longer meet Mr Guterres and criticized his call for a ceasefire at the UN Security Council in New York on Tuesday.

Eli Cohen said: ‘Mr Secretary General, what world do you live in? This is definitely not our world,” as he held up photos of children abducted by Hamas. “How can you agree to a ceasefire when someone has vowed to kill and destroy your existence,” he added.

Cohen then thanked President Joe Biden and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken for their support for Israel.

At yesterday’s meeting, Israel defied calls for a ceasefire and called its war against Hamas a “war of the free world.”

Mr Blinken and Palestinian Authority Secretary of State Riyad al-Maliki both called for protection of civilians in Gaza.

It came after the Hamas-led Health Ministry in Gaza reported that more than 700 Palestinians had been killed in 24 hours by Israeli airstrikes, the highest daily death toll since the bombardment began.

According to the New York Times, more than 5,700 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli attacks since the war began. The 74-year-old Guterres succeeded Ban Ki-Moon as the ninth Secretary General of the United Nations in October 2016.

He was Prime Minister of Portugal from 1995 to 2002 and head of the Portuguese Socialist Party.

It is noted that his tenure was significantly friendlier to Israel than previous secretaries-general, criticizing anti-Israel bias in the UN system and stating that denying Israel’s right to exist is anti-Semitism.

But in July he was criticized by Israeli diplomats for condemning the “excessive force” used by their military in an attack on the West Bank city of Jenin, which killed 12 Palestinians and one Israeli soldier.

Israeli soldiers inspect the site of a music festival near the border with the Gaza Strip in southern Israel on Friday, October 13

Aerial photo shows abandoned and torched vehicles at the site of the October 7 attack on the Supernova Desert Music Festival by Palestinian militants near Kibbutz Reim in the Negev Desert of southern Israel on October 13

In response, Erdan said Guterres’ criticism was “shameful, far-fetched and completely disconnected from reality.”

Following the Hamas terrorist attack on October 7, Mr Guterres issued a statement in which he acknowledged the “legitimate grievances” of the Palestinian people but said that “nothing can justify the acts of terror and the killing, maiming and kidnapping of civilians.”

He also urged Israel to conduct its military operations “in strict accordance with international humanitarian law,” though he said he recognized “Israel’s legitimate security concerns.”

He added: “Citizens must be respected and protected at all times. Civil infrastructure should never be a target.’ He then tweeted that he was “shocked” by the attack on a hospital in Gaza, which was later reportedly carried out by Palestinian forces.

In a furious interview after the UN session, Erdan said the secretary-general’s comments were comparable to anti-Semitic “blood libels.” He told reporters: “Mr Secretary General, the UN was created to prevent atrocities, to prevent such atrocities, such as the barbaric atrocities that Hamas has committed. But the UN is failing. And you, Mr. Secretary General, have lost all morality and impartiality. Hamas…beheaded babies, burned families, raped women, kidnapped children, babies, Holocaust survivors.”