New York, Sept. 24, (dpa/GNA) – UN Secretary General António Guterres told world leaders on Tuesday that Lebanon must not “become another Gaza,” after Israeli airstrikes against the Hezbollah militia group killed more than 550 people there.
“Lebanon is at the brink,” he said at the opening of the UN’s annual high-level debate week in New York, which brings together presidents and prime ministers from across the globe.
“The people of Lebanon – the people of Israel – and the people of the world – cannot afford Lebanon to become another Gaza,” he said.
Guterres, who has repeatedly criticized the conduct of the Israeli military in Gaza, said he now fears a similar approach in Lebanon.
“The speed and scale of the killing and destruction in Gaza are unlike anything in my years as secretary general,” he continued.
The Hamas-controlled health authority in Gaza puts the death toll after nearly a year of Israeli attacks at more than 40,000. The figure does not distinguish between civilians and fighters.
Guterres said that nothing could justify the terrorist attack by Hamas on Israel on October 7, 2023, and nothing could justify the “collective punishment” of Palestinians that followed. The unprecedented attack almost a year ago left some 1,200 people dead.
In an earlier part of his speech, Guterres criticized that many governments could do whatever they wanted without being held accountable, saying the world had entered “an age of impunity.”
“They can invade another country, lay waste to whole societies, or utterly disregard the welfare of their own people,” he said.