Africa-Press – Eswatini. The Secretary-General of the United Nations, António Guterres, yesterday expressed concern for civilians in the escalation of the conflict between Israel and the Palestinian territories and called for “all diplomatic efforts to avoid a major conflict”.
António Guterres, in a statement released by his spokesman and cited by the EFE agency, condemned “in the strongest terms saturday’s attack by Hamas against Israeli villages near the Gaza Strip and in central Israel, including the shooting of thousands of ‘ rockets’ against Israeli population centers”.
The head of the United Nations (UN) called for “maximum restraint”, although without specifically targeting any of the parties, and called for “all diplomatic efforts to avoid further conflicts”.
“Violence cannot be a solution to the conflict and peace can only be achieved through negotiations that lead to a two-state solution”, he stressed.
The UN Secretary-General highlighted the impact of the attack on the civilian population, referring to the “numerous” Israelis killed, injured, attacked and kidnapped from their homes, expressing his condolences to the victims and their families. He also called for the release of the kidnapped people.
Medical sources cited by the EFE agency report that more than 100 people died in Israel in the attack launched by Hamas from Gaza, which also caused more than 900 injuries.
Meanwhile, at least 198 people died and more than 1,600 were injured in Israeli bombings in the Palestinian enclave, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health.
The Islamic group Hamas saturday launched a surprise attack against Israeli territory, called operation “Storm al-Aqsa”, with the launch of thousands of rockets and the incursion of armed militiamen by land, sea and air.
In response to the surprise attack, Israel bombed several Hamas facilities in the Gaza Strip from the air, in an operation it dubbed “Iron Swords”.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared that Israel is “at war” with Hamas, which has controlled the Gaza Strip since 2007.
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