Israel calls for resignation of UNSG Antonio Guterres after he tells Security Council Hamas attacks did not happen in vacuum

It is important to recognise that the October 7 attack on Israel by Palestinian militant group Hamas “did not happen in a vacuum”, United NationsUnited NationsUnited Nations Secretary General Nations Secretary General Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres said at the UN Security Council on Tuesday.

“The Palestinian people have been subjected to 56 years of suffocating occupation,” Guterres said. “They have seen their land steadily devoured by settlements and plagued by violence; their economy stifled; their people displaced and their homes demolished. Their hopes for a political solution to their plight have been vanishing.”

On October 7, Hamas launched a multi-pronged attack on Israel taking over 100 hostages. In response, Israel declared a siege on Gaza and has been conducting air strikes on the narrow strip of land. Tel Aviv has also stopped water, fuel and power supplies to the region’s 2.3 million residents.