Palestinians have been subjected to 56 years of suffocating occupation: UN chief slams Israel’s actions in Gaza

United Nations (UN) secretary general Antonio Guterres has slammed Israel’s actions on Gaza, including relentless bombardment and cutting supply of humanitarian aid.

Reiterating his call for a ceasefire of hostilities in Gaza, the UN chief said that international law has been violated in the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.

Israel has been relentlessly and indiscriminately dropping bombs across the Gaza Strip since October 07 – the day Hamas launched a surprise attack on Israel.

According to Israeli authorities, at least 1400 people were killed in the Hamas’ strike on Israel.

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However, the Israel’s retaliatory indiscriminate airstrikes have killed over 5800 people, including over 1500 children, across the Gaza Strip.

While addressing the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), the UN chief recognised “the attacks by Hamas did not happen in a vacuum”.

“The Palestinian people have been subjected to 56 years of suffocating (Israeli) occupation,” UN secretary general Antonio Guterres said.

“But the grievances of the Palestinian people cannot justify the appalling attacks by Hamas. And those appalling attacks cannot justify the collective punishment of the Palestinian people,” he said.

Guterres also criticised Israel without naming it, saying “protecting civilians does not mean ordering more than one million people to evacuate to the south, where there is no shelter, no food, no water, no medicine and no fuel, and then continuing to bomb the south itself.”