UN Secretary-General António Guterres said that escalating hostilities risk a “full resumption of conflict” across the Middle East, urging the Security Council to support an end to Israeli occupation and a two-state solution as the only
“The Middle East is being pulled deeper into crisis, and the consequences reach far beyond the region,” Guterres said at the Council’s high-level open debate on advancing political solutions in the Middle East, Anadolu Agency reports.
“This week has brought wider attacks and further deterioration. I am profoundly concerned it could trigger a full resumption of conflict,” he added.
“The Israeli-Palestinian conflict has gone unresolved for decades. It’s time to get serious about the only credible way forward: An end to the occupation and a two-state solution,” he said, adding that “delay and denial only perpetuate injustice, fueling extremism in the region and further afield.”
In the Gaza Strip, Guterres said the situation “is rapidly deteriorating,” warning that Israel is declaring its intent to seize 70% of the territory.
He called for full implementation of a plan facilitated by the United States, Qatar, Egypt, and Türkiye, stressing that “the provision of humanitarian aid must never be used as a bargaining chip.”
Turning to the occupied West Bank, Guterres cited “alarming reports” of Israeli settler violence averaging six attacks per day, warning that any attempted annexation “would, like the decades-long occupation, have no legal validity.”
He said the ceasefire in the Persian Gulf is “more like a lesser fire,” cautioning that restrictions on navigation near the Strait of Hormuz were generating global economic hardship.
Guterres also flagged risks to Syria’s fragile peace, noting that consolidation “requires respect for its sovereignty and territorial integrity.”
“I urge this Council to put its full weight behind the two-state solution, the key to a just and lasting peace in the region,” he concluded.
By Vafa Guliyeva
