U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres on Wednesday said the death toll in Gaza amid Israel’s war with Hamas demonstrates something is wrong with Israel’s military operations.
“There are violations by Hamas when they have human shields. But when one looks at the number of civilians that were killed with the military operations, there is something that is clearly wrong,” he said at the Reuters NEXT conference.
Guterres made those remarks as Israel continues to attack Gaza by air, expand its ground operation and impose a complete siege on 2.2 million people in Gaza, ignoring international calls for a cease-fire and pauses in the war.
More than 10,000 people, including thousands of children, have been killed in Israel’s retaliatory operation, now in its second month, according to Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry. Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, killing more than 1,400 people and taking hundreds of hostages, according to Israeli officials.
He added: “It is against the interest of Israel to see every day the terrible images of the dramatic humanitarian needs of the Palestinian people,” adding, “that doesn’t help Israel in relation to the global public opinion.”
Israel’s allies are pressuring the government to consider civilians as thousands fled densely populated areas of north Gaza on Wednesday past Israeli tanks, AP reported. More than 1.5 million Palestinians have been displaced by Israel’s military operations in the past month.
Earlier Wednesday, the Israel Defense Forces said they killed Hamas’ head of weapons and industries, Mohsen Abu Zina, vowing “to continue to operate in Gaza to eliminate Hamas.”
