Israel’s policy toward the occupied West Bank is dooming any prospect of a two-state solution with the Palestinians, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has said.
Through administrative and legal steps, Israel is changing the geography of the West Bank, Guterres said in a statement read by his chief of staff, Courtenay Rattray, during a meeting of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) on Wednesday.
Settlement expansion is expected to speed up due to big land seizures in strategic areas and changes to planning, land management and governance, Guterres added.
“Recent developments are driving a stake through the heart of any prospect for a two-state solution,” said the UN chief.
Israeli military raids, arrests of Palestinians and settler violence have soared in the occupied West Bank and east Jerusalem since Israel launched its war on Gaza in October.
Guterres noted that Israel has taken punitive steps against the Palestinian Authority and legalised five Israeli outposts in the West Bank.
Israel has built such outposts as part of its occupation of the West Bank since 1967.
“We must change course. All settlement activity must cease immediately,” Guterres said.
The UN chief also repeated his call for an immediate ceasefire in the Gaza war and the release of all hostages.
At least 38,794 people have been killed and 89,364 wounded in Israel’s war on Gaza since October 7. The death toll in Israel from the Hamas-led attacks on October 7 is estimated at 1,139, with dozens of people still held captive in Gaza.
“The humanitarian situation in Gaza is a moral stain on us all,” Guterres said.
Meeting disrupted by protest
At the UNSC quarterly session on the Middle East on Wednesday, Israel’s war on Gaza and the humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip dominated the agenda.
“What is happening in Gaza is going down as the most documented genocide in history,” Riyad Mansour, Palestinian ambassador to the United Nations, told the session. “When will the world denounce the crimes and stop tolerating their reoccurrence?”
Israeli Ambassador to the UN Gilad Erdan accused Hamas of crimes against humanity and said the Israeli captives were being held by “Iranian-supported and inspired terrorist organisations”.
The UNSC meeting was briefly interrupted after Erdan’s speech by two women dressed in black, who stood with signs and yelled for the release of Israeli hostages held by Palestinian groups in Gaza.
UN security asked the women to leave the chamber and they did so, a UN official said.
The demonstration came as Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov began to address the 15-member body.
Lavrov, who was chairing the meeting because Russia is the UNSC president for July, responded: “I don’t understand, speak more clearly. One of you can speak clearly to say what you want to say. I see you don’t wish to do so, very well.”
Protests inside the UN headquarters in New York City are rare.
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