BICOM

The UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres ended his tour of Israel and the Palestinian territories yesterday with a visit to the Gaza Strip and Israeli communities near the Gaza border.

Guterres received an IDF security briefing as he flew by helicopter to the Gaza border, where he went to kibbutz Nahal Oz and was shown a Hamas tunnel. Guterres said he was impressed by the Israeli families who represent a “fantastic example of solidarity, humanity and tolerance” by expressing a desire for “peace and reconciliation” instead of a “natural feeling of anger”. He was accompanied by Danny Danon, Israel’s ambassador to the UN, and Ma. Gen. Aviv Kochavi, Israel’s deputy chief of staff.

He then entered the Gaza Strip and gave a press conference at an UNRWA school in Beit Lahiya where he described Gaza as “one of the most dramatic humanitarian crises”.

Guterres also called for the lifting of the blockade on the Gaza Strip, which Israel imposed a decade ago as a security measure to prevent Hamas from smuggling in weapons to Gaza.

On Tuesday, Hamas leaders said Guterres is “unwelcome” in Gaza because of his solidarity with Israeli hostages in Gaza and neglected Palestinians imprisoned in Israel. However, Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said Hamas “welcomes” Guterres and hopes he will work to end the Israeli blockade of the Strip.

Jason Greenblatt, US President Donald Trump’s special envoy for the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, also toured the Israeli-Gaza border on Wednesday with IDF Maj. Gen. Yoav Mordechai, the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories, and called for the Palestinian Authority “to resume its role in the administration of Gaza,” in light of the damage that Hamas has caused to the Gaza Strip.

Greenblatt also spoke of how the tour helped him learn “a great deal about the difficult challenges facing the IDF, Israelis living in surrounding areas and the Palestinians living in Gaza as a result of Hamas’ mismanagement of humanitarian aid and its commitment to terrorist violence”.