EXCERPT:
GUTERRES: “As I warned, public order is at risk of breaking down. Humanitarian veterans who have served in war zones and disasters around the world, people who have seen everything tell me they have seen nothing like what they see today in Gaza. Israel began its military operation in response to the horrific terror attacks launched by Hamas on seventh October and nothing can possibly justify those attacks, or the brutal abduction of some 250 hostages. And I repeat my call for all remaining hostages to be released immediately and then conditionally. And nothing can justify the continued firing of rockets from Gaza, civilian targets in Israel, or the use of civilians as human shields. But at the same time, these violations of international humanitarian law can never justify the collective punishment of the Palestinian people and they do not free Israel from its own obligations under international law.”