UN Chief Guterres Warns of 'Ethnic Cleansing' Risk from Israeli Settlements

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres strongly condemned Israeli policy in the West Bank and the conduct of the war in Gaza during the opening of the 81st session of the UN General Assembly in New York. Guterres stated that "the violence, displacement, and expansion of settlements by Israel in the occupied West Bank are destroying the path to peace and raising the specter of ethnic cleansing." He also cautioned against the gradual disappearance of the two-state solution, urging that it "cannot be allowed to disappear before our eyes."

Addressing the conflict in Gaza, nearly three years after the October 7th Hamas attack, Guterres described the assault as an "abject terrorist attack." However, he also denounced the scale of Israel's subsequent response, calling it an "offensive against the Palestinians in Gaza, with an unprecedented scale of death and destruction since I have been Secretary-General." Guterres has led the UN since January 2017.

These remarks come amid heightened international tensions regarding Israeli policy in the West Bank. In recent months, the Israeli government has accelerated the approval of new settlements, a policy criticized by numerous countries and organizations as an impediment to establishing a future Palestinian state. The Israeli government maintains its right to develop settlements and rejects accusations of "ethnic cleansing."