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Middle East conflict

UN chief says number of casualties in Gaza is ‘staggering and unacceptable’

Antonio Guterres believes that "this must stop"

NEW YORK, November 19. /TASS/. United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres has described the number of civilian casualties in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict as "staggering and unacceptable."

"This war is having a staggering and unacceptable number of civilian casualties, including women and children, every day. This must stop," he said in a statement posted on the UN website on Sunday. "I reiterate my call for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire."

"I am deeply shocked that two UNRWA (United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East - TASS) schools were struck in less than 24 hours in Gaza. Dozens of people - many women and children - were killed and injured as they were seeking safety in United Nations premises," he stressed.

He also expressed "deep appreciation for all the mediation efforts led by the government of Qatar."

Tensions flared up again in the Middle East on October 7 after militants from the Gaza Strip-based radical Palestinian group Hamas launched a surprise incursion on Israeli territory, killing many Israeli kibbutz residents living near the Gaza border and abducting more than 200 Israelis, including women, children and the elderly. Hamas described its attack as a response to Israeli authorities’ aggressive actions against the Al-Aqsa Mosque on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem’s Old City. Israel declared a total blockade of the Gaza Strip and launched bombardments of the enclave and some areas in Lebanon and Syria, as well as a ground operation against Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Clashes are also reported in the West Bank.

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Palestine Israel Antonio Guterres

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