United Nations:
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Sunday pleaded for an quick finish to deadly Israeli-Palestinian violence, warning a Security Council meeting that the fighting could plunge the area into an “uncontainable” crisis.
“Fighting must stop. It must stop immediately,” Mr Guterres stated as he opened a Security Council session delayed by Israel’s ally the United States, calling the violence that has killed practically 200 persons more than the previous week “utterly appalling.”
“It has the potential to unleash an uncontainable security and humanitarian crisis and to further foster extremism, not only in the occupied Palestinian territory and Israel, but in the region as a whole,” he stated.
Mr Guterres condemned the fresh violence on Sunday which killed 40 Palestinians, the most quantity of deaths given that the unrest broke out.
“This senseless cycle of bloodshed, terror and destruction must stop immediately,” Mr Guterres stated.
He also renewed criticism of an Israeli strike on Saturday that destroyed the Gaza offices of two important news outlets, Al-Jazeera and the Associated Press.
“Journalists must be allowed to work free of fear and harassment. The destruction of media offices in Gaza is extremely concerning,” Mr Guterres stated.
Israel launched its air offensive soon after Hamas, the Islamist movement that controls Gaza, started firing rockets in response to the Jewish state’s moves in Jerusalem.
“Rockets and mortars on one side and aerial and artillery bombardments on the other must stop. I appeal to all parties to heed this call,” Mr Guterres stated.
He also voiced alarm at the rise of extremist Jewish movements whose push to expel Palestinians out of Jerusalem helped trigger the crisis.
“In Israel, violence by vigilante-style groups and mobs has added a further horrendous dimension to an already deteriorating crisis,” Mr Guterres stated.
“Leaders on all sides have a responsibility to curb inflammatory rhetoric and calm the rising tensions.”