United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres speaks during a Security Council meeting at United Nations headquarters on Jan. 23.Yuki Iwamura/The Associated Press
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday said the “clear and repeated rejection of the two-State solution at the highest levels of the Israeli government is unacceptable” as he appealed for more aid access throughout the Gaza Strip.
“The entire population of Gaza is enduring destruction at a scale and speed without parallel in recent history,” Guterres told the U.N. Security Council. “Nothing can justify the collective punishment of the Palestinian people.”
He told the council that the humanitarian situation in the Palestinian enclave was “appalling” and that “the people of Gaza not only risk being killed or injured by relentless bombardments, they also run a growing chance of contracting infectious diseases like hepatitis A, dysentery, cholera.”
Guterres again appealed for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire.