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UN chief calls for immediate ceasefire in Gaza, Lebanon, release of hostages at BRICS

Tensions flared up again in the Middle East on October 7, 2023, after militants from the Gaza Strip-based radical Palestinian group Hamas launched a surprise incursion on Israeli territory

KAZAN, October 24. /TASS/. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged an immediate ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and Lebanon and a release of hostages being held in the Palestinian enclave.

"We need peace in Gaza with an immediate ceasefire, the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages, the effective delivery of humanitarian aid <…>. We need peace in Lebanon with an immediate cessation of hostilities, moving to the full implementation of Security Council resolution 1701 [which helped put an end to the 2006 conflict between Lebanon and Israel]," the UN chief said at the BRICS Plus/Outreach meeting.

Tensions flared up again in the Middle East on October 7, 2023, 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 hundreds of Israelis, including women, children and the elderly. 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.

On September 23, Israel launched Operation Northern Arrows against the Lebanon-based Hezbollah Shia movement, carrying out massive airstrikes on its military targets. The stated goal is to create safe conditions for the return of dozens of thousands of local residents to Israel’s northern border areas. The Israeli army announced the start of a ground operation in the border areas of southern Lebanon in the early hours of October 1.

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