The Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Emigration noted in a statement that the criticism of the Government of Benjamin Netanyahu against Guterres are unjustified and premeditated.

During a UN Security Council meeting on Tuesday, Guterres condemned the attack by Hamas on October 7 but affirmed that it did not happen in a vacuum, alluding to that country’s historic occupation of Palestinian lands.

The Palestinian people have been subjected to 56 years of suffocating occupation; they saw how their lands were devoured by settlements and ravaged by violence while their inhabitants were displaced and their homes were demolished, the UN head denounced on Tuesday.

The Foreign Ministry affirmed that the words against the UN chief represented a disrespect and lack of commitment practiced by the occupying power against the international body.

Following Guterres’ remarks, Israel’s Ambassador to the United Nations, Gilad Erdan, accused the secretary-general of “justifying terrorism” and announced that his country denied UN officials visas to enter the country.

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