United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres rejected the “misrepresentations” of his remarks a day earlier on Palestinian grievances that infuriated Israel.
“I am shocked by misrepresentations by some of my statement yesterday in the Security Council – as if I was justifying acts of terror by Hamas,” Guterres told reporters on Wednesday, without naming Israel.
Addressing a Security Council session on Tuesday, the UN chief, again without naming Israel, denounced “the clear violations of international humanitarian law that we are witnessing in Gaza”.
In remarks that especially outraged Israel, he said it was important to “recognise the attacks by Hamas did not happen in a vacuum” as the Palestinians have been “subjected to 56 years of suffocating occupation”.
Guterres said Wednesday it was “necessary to set the record straight, especially out of respect for the victims and their families”.
“I spoke of the grievances of the Palestinian people. And in doing so, I also clearly stated, and I quote: ‘But the grievances of the Palestinian people cannot justify the appalling attacks by Hamas’.”
US and Russian bids on Israel-Gaza war fail at UN Security Council
US and Russian bids on Israel-Gaza war fail at UN Security Council
Israel’s outspoken ambassador to the United Nations, Gilad Erdan, rejected the explanation and called on Guterres to resign.
“It is a disgrace to the UN that the secretary general does not retract his words and is not even able to apologise for what he said yesterday,” Erdan said in a statement.
Denouncing the original remarks on the “vacuum”, Erdan said, “Every person understands very well that the meaning of his words is that Israel has guilt for the actions of Hamas or, at the very least, it shows his understanding for the ‘background’ leading up to the massacre”.
Erdan earlier threatened to refuse visas to UN officials.
Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen on Tuesday cancelled a meeting with Guterres and angrily pointed his finger at him during the session, reading graphic accounts of civilians killed in the October 7 assault by Hamas.
Hamas militants stormed into Israel from the Gaza Strip on October 7, and killed at least 1,400 people, mostly civilians who were shot, mutilated or burned to death on the first day of the raid, according to Israeli officials.
More than 6,500 Palestinians, mainly civilians, have been killed across Gaza in relentless Israeli bombardments in retaliation for the attacks by the Palestinian Islamist militant group, according to the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza.
Additional reporting by dpa