U.N. chief presses Security Council to act on Gaza cease-fire

SpaceWar.com reports: “United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Wednesday invoked a rarely used article of the U.N. charter to pressure the Security Council to call for a humanitarian cease-fire between Israel and Hamas, attracting a scathing rebuke from Israel’s foreign minister who derided the move as tantamount to endorsing ‘ the murder’ of Israelis.

Guterres invoked Article 99 for the first time in his seven-year tenure to bring the issue of a humanitarian cease-fire to the attention of the security council, saying the situation in Gaza is ‘making it impossible for meaningful humanitarian operations to be conducted.’

‘We are facing a severe risk of collapse of the humanitarian system. The situation is fast deteriorating into a catastrophe with potentially irreversible implications for Palestinians as a whole and for peace and security in the region. Such an outcome must be avoided at all costs,’ he said in the letter to the president of the Security Council.

‘I urge the members of the Security Council to press to avert a humanitarian catastrophe.’

Gaza has been under incessant Israeli airstrikes with Israeli troops also on the ground since the war between Israel and Hamas began on Oct. 7, following the militant group’s surprise attack that killed 1,200 Israelis and took some 240 others hostage. More than 100 remain captive…”

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