UN chief says Israeli capture of Gaza City marks ‘deadly escalation’

UN Secretary General António Guterres is calling on Israel to refrain from capturing Gaza City amid fears of a humanitarian catastrophe.

“Civilians in Gaza are facing yet another deadly escalation,” Guterres said in a post on X on Thursday. “Israel’s announcement of its intention to occupy Gaza City signals a new and dangerous phase.”

“Hundreds of thousands of civilians would be forced to flee yet again, plunging families into even deeper peril,” he added. “This must stop. There is no military solution to the conflict.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ordered the military to take over Gaza City, where around 1 million people are believed to be living.

On Wednesday, a military spokesman announced that preparations were underway for the planned evacuation of the city’s inhabitants. Arrangements have been made to set up humanitarian aid centres and tents have been delivered, he said.

But aid organizations have repeatedly warned of the disastrous conditions in the south of the coastal region.

Guterres said the “levels of death and destruction in Gaza are without parallel in recent times.”

“Gaza is piled with rubble, with bodies, with examples of what may be serious violations of international law,” the UN chief said.

“We need an immediate and permanent ceasefire,” Guterres added. “Hostages must be immediately released, and the atrocious treatment they have been forced to endure must stop.”

He also insisted that Israel has “clear obligations” in Gaza: to ensure the provision of “food, water, medicine and other essentials,” to “agree to and facilitate far greater humanitarian access” and to “protect civilians and civilian infrastructure.”

More than 60,000 Palestinians have been killed in the war in Gaza, according to figures from the Hamas-run health ministry that are seen as credible by the United Nations.

The conflict broke out in the wake of the October 7, 2023, terrorist attacks by Hamas on Israel.