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UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres was “wrong” and should retract his comments about Hamas’s assault if it implied any justification for the slaughter of Israelis, a UK minister has said.
Mr Guterres sparked a diplomatic storm after he told a United Nations meeting in New York that it was important to recognise that “the attacks by Hamas did not happen in a vacuum”.
The UN chief also expressed concern that “clear violations of international humanitarian law” had been committed by Israel in Gaza during its fightback against the Palestinian militants which has led to thousands of casualties.
Israel has conducted air strikes on the 25-mile strip that is home to 2.3 million Palestinians and blockaded food, water, fuel and other essentials, with humanitarian aid only allowed through in recent days.
Immigration minister Robert Jenrick said the UK did not support Mr Guterres’s assessment, telling Sky News: “We don’t believe Israel has broken international law.
What happened was an appalling act of evil terrorism and everyone should call that out
Immigration minister Robert Jenrick
“There is a clear right in international law for a nation to defend itself, and that is what Israel is doing.”
He urged for Hamas’s bloody assault on Israel on October 7, in which fighters killed 1,400 people, to be called out as an “appalling act of evil terrorism” that was without justification.
Asked on ITV’s Good Morning Britain about Mr Guterres’s remarks on Hamas’s incursion, Mr Jenrick said: “No-one, whether deliberately or otherwise, should be implying there is any justification for that.
“In that sense, I think he was wrong. I hope that isn’t what he meant but, if it is, then he should retract that.”
The Conservative minister said it was “not for me to say” whether the UN chief should stand down following a call by Israel’s UN ambassador Gilad Erdan for Mr Guterres to resign.
Mr Jenrick added: “I do think it is important we are all very clear that there is no justification for what happened, there is no context that is relevant.
“What happened was an appalling act of evil terrorism and everyone should call that out.”
The Home Office minister’s stance appeared to harden during his round of broadcast interviews on Wednesday, moving from initially stating he would not respond directly to Mr Guterres’s stateside comments before suggesting they were “wrong”.
Israel has ramped up air strikes across the Gaza Strip in a retaliation that is reducing residential buildings to rubble and killing dozens at a time, according to witnesses.
The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry said on Tuesday that at least 5,791 Palestinians had been killed since October 7, including at least 704 in the past day.
More than 1,400 people in Israel have been killed, according to Israeli officials, mostly civilians who died in the initial Hamas rampage.
About 220 people are believed to have been captured by Hamas during the raids and are being held in Gaza.
Four of those have been released, including 85-year-old Yocheved Lifshitz, who has family in the UK.
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