Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations, Danny Danon, announced that he is severing ties with UN Secretary-General António Guterres. He cited the recent inclusion of Israel on a list of countries and armed organizations that have allegedly committed sexual violence during wartime. Prime Minister Netanyahu has ordered the military to disregard the terms of the October ceasefire and to take control of 70 percent of the Gaza Strip.
“We are done with this Secretary-General,” Danon said on the X network. The Israeli mission clarified that this means a suspension of its relations with the office of the UN Secretary-General until the end of Guterres' term, which is December 31 of this year. <-> “We saw those comments. The door to the Secretary-General remains open from our side,” said Stéphane Dujarric, Guterres' spokesperson.
The ambassador was referring to a report by the Secretary-General on sexual violence in the context of conflicts, which has not yet been released. In August of last year, an annual report warned that Israel could be included on a list of parties suspected of or responsible for sexual violence in armed conflicts. The list includes the terrorist organization Hamas, due to allegations of sexual violence during the October 7, 2023 attack and against hostages.
In last year's report, the UN spoke of credible information regarding sexual violence committed by Israeli security forces against Palestinian prisoners in prisons and other detention facilities. It also noted that UN inspectors were denied access. According to Danon, Israel invited UN representatives to come to the country to investigate these allegations, but they declined to do so.
Danon accused the Secretary-General of equating Hamas and Israel. According to the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the decision is "shameful and absurd." The UN was described as a "politicized and corrupt institution that has abandoned its basic principles and whose primary mission is the systematic attack on Israel."
Relations between the UN and Israel have been strained for a long time, according to AFP. Israeli authorities, in particular, accuse the Secretary-General and other UN officials of harshly criticizing Israeli retaliatory actions in the Gaza Strip. Israel has accused employees of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) of involvement in the Hamas attack on October 7, which marked the beginning of the war in the Gaza Strip. In 2024, Israel banned Guterres from entering the country.
A ceasefire has been in place in the Gaza Strip between the terrorist organization Hamas and Israel since October 10, but both sides regularly accuse each other of violating it. In recent weeks, the number and intensity of incursions by armed groups supported by Israel, which seek to overthrow the Hamas government, have increased. These groups are trying to penetrate from areas controlled by the Israeli army into areas controlled by Hamas.
We now control 60 percent of the territory in the Gaza Strip. You know, we were at 50 percent, and we've reached 60. But my order is to reach 70 percent," Netanyahu said at a conference in one of the settlements in the occupied West Bank. "Let's start with that. We have surrounded them on all sides. We'll take care of the rest later," the Israeli Prime Minister added, after the audience in the crowd called for the control of the entire territory.
"According to last year's agreement, the Israeli army was supposed to maintain control over 53 percent of the strip in its first phase, then over 40 percent after further withdrawals, and finally over 15 percent.
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