A “UN protectorate” in Gaza after the war is not a solution, the United Nations secretary general said on Monday, calling for a “transition” involving multiple actors, particularly the United States and Arab countries.
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“It is important to be able to turn this tragedy into an opportunity and for this to be possible, it is important that we move decisively and irreversibly towards a two-state solution after the war,” Antonio Guterres told reporters.
This requires “a strengthened Palestinian Authority that takes responsibility for Gaza,” he said. But “the Palestinian Authority cannot advance into Gaza with Israeli tanks”, “the international community must think about a transition period”.
“I don’t think a UN protectorate in Gaza is a solution. I think we need a multi-actor approach, where different countries, different entities work together,” he said, mentioning among these actors the United States, “guarantors” of Israel’s security, and the Arab countries of the region. “essential” for the Palestinians.
“Everyone must come together to create the conditions for a transition so that a strengthened Palestinian Authority can assume responsibility in Gaza.”
He also once again denounced “violations of international humanitarian law and violations of the protection of civilians in Gaza.”
Every year the Secretary-General publishes his “list of shame” on the rights of children in conflict, and Israel’s absence from the list is criticized by human rights organizations.
Without saying whether this situation could change, Antonio Guterres compared the number of children killed in Gaza in a few weeks with other conflicts whose parties were on his blacklist.
“I have submitted seven reports, in these seven reports the highest number of children killed by an actor in one year was the Taliban in 2017-2018, the second was the Syrian government and its allies (… ), again around 700.” he noted.
“Without entering into discussions about the accuracy of the figures published by the de facto authorities in Gaza (Hamas, editor’s note), it is clear that thousands of children were killed in a matter of weeks,” he insisted, describing a “unprecedented event”. ” Number of civilian deaths during conflict since he took office at the head of the UN in January 2017.
