WASHINGTON DC: The U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Monday that the United Nations has offered to help monitor any eventual cease-fire to halt the Israeli-Hamas war in Gaza, but that it is “unrealistic” to think that the world agency would directly administer the territory or provide a peacekeeping force.
Guterres told The Associated Press in an interview, “The U.N. will be available to support any cease-fire,” but said he did not believe Israel would accept a broader role for the U.N.
As the Israeli-Hamas conflict raged over the last 11 months, Israel accused a small number of U.N. workers of joining Hamas militants in their shock October 7 attack on Israel that started the war.
The United Nations has had a military monitoring mission in the Middle East, known as UNTSO, since 1948. Guterres said that offering to monitor a cease-fire “was one of the hypotheses that we’ve put on the table.” But the months-long cease-fire talks have stalemated.
“Of course, we’ll be ready to do whatever the international community asked for us,” Guterres said.
“The question is whether the parties would accept it, and in particular whether Israel would accept it.”
Stressing the urgency of a cease-fire now, Guterres said, “The level of suffering we are witnessing in Gaza is unprecedented in my (seven-year) mandate as secretary-general of the United Nations. I’ve never seen such a level of death and destruction as we are seeing in Gaza in the last few months.”
Separately, U.N. human rights chief Volker Türk said Monday that ending the war in Gaza “and averting a full-blown regional conflict is an absolute and urgent priority.”
(VOA)
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