UN chief refutes allegations of justifying Hamas attacks

UNITED NATIONS - UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Wednesday strongly refuted the "false" assertion made by senior Israeli diplomats, who accused him of endorsing the Oct 7 Hamas attacks in a statement he presented to the Security Council.

Addressing Tuesday's debate at the Security Council on the worsening crisis in Israel and Palestine, the UN chief said that although nothing could justify the "appalling" attacks by Hamas on Oct 7 which triggered the siege and bombardment of Gaza, it is important to recognize they "did not happen in a vacuum" and did not justify the collective punishment of Palestinians.

Following Guterres' briefing on Tuesday, Israel's permanent representative to the UN Gilad Erdan tweeted that Guterres' speech had sought "to justify Hamas's brutal assault" which left some 1,400 dead, mainly civilians.

Erdan demanded that the UN chief resign, and later said that Israel would withhold visas from UN officials.

Israel's Foreign Minister Eli Cohen also leveled accusations at Guterres for endorsing terrorism and subsequently called off a scheduled bilateral meeting with the UN chief on Tuesday.

Later on Tuesday the UN chief met some of the families of those taken hostage by Hamas fighters, and reaffirmed his call for the immediate and unconditional release of all those being held in violation of international law inside Gaza.

In a statement to correspondents at the stakeout outside the Security Council on Wednesday morning, Guterres said he was "shocked by the misrepresentation by some of my statement".

Acknowledging that he had indeed spoken of Palestinian grievances, he stressed he had also said in the council that "the grievances of the Palestinian people cannot justify the appalling attacks by Hamas".

Without referring to Israeli diplomats specifically, the UN chief said it is "necessary to set the record straight - especially out of respect to the victims and to their families".