BRUSSELS, October 17. /TASS/. The Israeli authorities are attacking the UN system, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said upon arrival at a summit in Brussels.
"The UN is being attacked on all fronts by the Israeli government: (UN Secretary General Antonio - TASS) Guterres is considered an anti-Semite, UNRWA (the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East - TASS) is considered a terrorist organization and banned from operating on Israeli territory. The UN system is being attacked," he said.
Borrell expressed hope that the leaders of the 27 EU countries will take the UN issue seriously and condemn Israel's attacks. "I hope the Council will strongly condemn the attacks of Israeli forces against UNIFIL (the UN Interim Force in Lebanon - TASS). I hope that the Council will take seriously the situation of the UN," he said.
On October 2, Israeli authorities declared Guterres persona non grata, accusing him of supporting Hamas, Hezbollah, Yemen's Houthis and Iran. A few days later, the Israeli parliament passed a bill banning UNRWA from operating in the country. The bill was developed on the basis of information about the participation of the agency's employees in the attack on Israel carried out by armed supporters of the radical Hamas movement on October 7, 2023. The Israeli side has repeatedly stated that many UNRWA employees are simultaneously involved in the activities of the military wing of Hamas.
On October 10, UNIFIL reported that the Israeli military shelled its headquarters in Naqoura, injuring two peacekeepers. On October 11, two more peacekeepers were injured, and on October 12, one peacekeeper was shot.
Israel blamed the incident on Hezbollah militias, which it said were using the peacekeepers "as human shields". On October 13, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed the UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres with a demand to immediately withdraw UNIFIL peacekeepers from the combat zone near the Lebanese-Israeli border.