“Hamas’ brutality does not justify collective punishment of the Palestinian people,” says Guterres

2023-12-08 19:23:59

The Secretary General of the UN, the Portuguese António Guterres, was not intimidated by the Israeli government, and gave a devastating description of the situation in Gaza due to the bombings by the army commanded by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. However, the Security Council delayed putting to a vote a resolution in favor of an immediate humanitarian ceasefire due to the United States’ warning that it would use the right of veto.

“We do not support an immediate ceasefire now,” replied US representative Robert Wood. “This would only be planting the seeds for the next war, because Hamas does not want anything lasting,” he argued.

There is another version. “The brutality perpetrated by Hamas cannot justify the collective punishment of the Palestinian people,” Guerres stressed in his speech to the Security Council to establish this immediate ceasefire. “And while Hamas launches missiles indiscriminately toward Israel and uses civilians as human shields, which contravenes the laws of war, this conduct does not absolve Israel of its own violations,” he continued.

The head of the United Nations Organization appealed that “the world and history are watching us,” after insisting that the citizens of Gaza are looking into the abyss. “The international community must do everything possible to end this agony. “I urgently ask the Security Council to spare no effort to immediately implement a humanitarian ceasefire, for the protection of civilians and to be able to distribute life-saving aid.”

Guterres justified his exceptional use of Article 99 of the United Nations Charter, which has led the Israeli government to classify him as a “danger to world peace.” His request only has three formal precedents in the history of the institution. This article indicates that the secretary-general may report to the council on matters that he believes threaten international peace and security.

In his speech this Friday, Guterres gave a brutal portrait. He warned, at a general level, that there is an increasingly greater risk that the conflict will spread throughout the region. And specifically he listed the level of the catastrophe in Gaza, with more than 17,000 dead, the absence of protection for civilians, the destruction of hospitals, schools, mosques, shelters, more than 60% of homes destroyed or seriously damaged, a massive number of people sleeping on the streets and hundreds of thousands of displaced people. “There is no protection for civilians in Gaza,” he said. They even have to queue to access a toilet, he explained.

A crossroads in which, in addition, the entry of humanitarian aid is impossible and there are no medicines or food, so many find themselves without the possibility of feeding themselves. “There is a risk of complete collapse of the humanitarian aid system in Gaza,” he stressed, a risk that is increased by the death of 130 UN employees or collaborators.

“Everything I have just described represents an unprecedented situation that has led me to the unprecedented decision to invoke Article 99, urging the members of the Security Council to pressure and abort this humanitarian catastrophe, for which I appealed that it be “I declared a ceasefire,” he reiterated.

Israel’s ambassador, Gilad Erdan, retorted angrily. He tried to make Guterres ugly by pointing out that neither the war in Ukraine, with thousands of deaths, including children, nor the war conflict in Yemen, have led him to resort to a decision as drastic as appealing to Article 99. Erdan considered that there is more mercy with Hamas, despite the atrocious attack on October 7, than with his country. He maintained that Council members and the Secretary General who support the ceasefire do not want to see the reality of what is happening on the ground. That is, if aid does not arrive it is not because of Israel, but because of Hamas.

The Security Council had presented a draft resolution following the request of the secretary general. However, some members pressed to buy time because the United States made clear that including the ceasefire involved a veto. For Washington, this only gives Hamas time to continue its establishment and its aggression against its ally, denounced Ambassador Robert Wood.

In an attempt to save the furniture, or rather, the dignity, another meeting was called for this Friday night. A position that could be acceptable for acceptance was being negotiated with the US, which seemed unlikely. Joe Biden’s government opposes any ceasefire.