Recent escalations in the Middle East make it even more important to support efforts towards lasting peace between Israel and a fully independent, viable and sovereign Palestinian state, UN Secretary-General António Guterres told the Security Council. “Failure to make progress towards a two-State solution will only increase volatility and risk for hundreds of millions of people across the region, who will continue to live under the constant threat of violence,” he said.

“The world is forgetting about the people of Sudan” the UN chief warned, calling for a boost in humanitarian funding and a global push for peace to end a year of brutal fighting between rival militaries. With attention over the weekend focused on the Middle East he said the conflict between the national army and Rapid Support Forces militia had turned into “a war being waged on the Sudanese people.” “It is a war on the many thousands of civilians who have been killed, and tens of thousands more maimed for life, said UN Secretary-General António Guterres.

The people of the Middle East are facing a real danger of a devastating full-scale conflict, António Guterres said on Sunday, urging “maximum restraint” across a region on the brink hours after Iran launched attack drones and missiles against Israel overnight Saturday. “It is vital to avoid any action that could lead to major military confrontations on multiple fronts in the Middle East...Now is the time for maximum restraint,” the UN Secretary-General told delegates at the opening of an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council. 

“The genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda 30 years ago is a stain on our collective consciousness and a brutal reminder of the legacy of colonialism, and the consequences of hate speech,” UN Secretary-General António Guterres said in his opening remarks. More than a million people - overwhelmingly Tutsi, but also Hutu and others who opposed the genocide - were slaughtered over 100 days, starting on 7 April 1994. Many were hacked to death with machetes. It was a period when “neighbours turned on neighbours, friends became murderous foes, and entire families were wiped out,” Mr. Guterres recalled.
 

Israel must make meaningful changes in the way it is fighting in Gaza to avoid civilian casualties while also undergoing “a true paradigm shift” in lifesaving aid delivery, the UN chief said. Marking six months of war since the “abhorrent” Hamas-led terror attacks of 7 October, António Guterres told journalists at UN Headquarters in New York that nothing could justify the horror unleashed by Palestinian militants that day. “I once again utterly condemn the use of sexual violence, torture injuring and kidnapping of civilians, the firing of rockets towards civilian targets and the use of human shields”, he said.