Guterres claims ‘level of death and destruction’ in Gaza is worst of his term as UN chief

The UN chief says that the United Nations has offered to monitor any ceasefire in Gaza and demands an end to the worst death and destruction he claims to have seen in his more than seven-year tenure.

Secretary-General Antonio Guterres says in an interview with The Associated Press that it is “unrealistic” to think the UN could play a role in Gaza’s future, either by administering the territory or providing a peacekeeping force, because Israel is unlikely to accept a UN role.

But he says “the UN will be available to support any ceasefire.” The United Nations has had a military monitoring mission in the Middle East, known as UNTSO, since 1948, and he says, “From our side, this was one of the hypotheses that we’ve put on the table.”

“Of course, we’ll be ready to do whatever the international community asked for us,” Guterres says. “The question is whether the parties would accept it, and in particular whether Israel would accept it.”

Stressing the urgency of a ceasefire now to end the over 11 months of fighting started  by Hamas’s October 7 attack, Guterres says: “The level of suffering we are witnessing in Gaza is unprecedented in my 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.”