UN Secretary-General António Guterres told the Security Council on Tuesday that the crisis in Gaza has become "one of the darkest chapters of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict," with worsening suffering and deepening regional instability.
The high-level meeting attended by foreign ministers and senior officials - came amid Israel's intensifying military operation to wrest full control of Gaza City, growing starvation and growing international recognition of Palestinian statehood.
"The Israeli military onslaught in Gaza City is compounding an already catastrophic humanitarian crisis," Mr. Guterres said.
"Countless Palestinian civilians and the remaining hostages are trapped under relentless bombardment and deprived of food, water, electricity, and medicine. Famine is a reality."
Respect international law
He repeated his appeals for an immediate and permanent ceasefire, the unconditional release of all hostages, and unhindered humanitarian access.
"UN resolutions continue to be ignored. International humanitarian law violated. Impunity prevails. And our collective credibility is being undermined," he warned.
He also reiterated his call for an immediate permanent ceasefire, the unconditional release of all hostages; and unhindered humanitarian access to all those in need across the Strip.
Deepening instability
The Secretary-General said the conflict is spreading beyond Gaza to the West Bank and the wider region, citing the Israeli strike on Qatar earlier this month as "not only a violation of Qatar's sovereignty and territorial integrity" but also a threat to "the very norms and mechanisms we rely on for diplomacy and conflict resolution."
"Efforts to secure a ceasefire and hostage release deal - led by Qatar, Egypt, and the United States - suffered a serious blow on 9 September," he said.
Preserve two-State solution
Turning to the political horizon, Mr. Guterres warned the two-State solution is eroding amid "relentless settlement expansion. De facto annexation. Forced displacement," he said.
"If implemented, Israel's recent approval of settlement construction in the E1 area would sever the occupied West Bank - destroying the territorial contiguity of a Palestinian State," he noted.
He called Israeli settlements "a flagrant violation of international law" and urged more international support to stabilise the Palestinian Authority, which he said is facing "an existential crisis" under fiscal and political pressure.
'A glimmer of hope'
Still, he pointed to a "glimmer of hope" in the resumption of the international conference on the two-State solution, co-chaired by France and Saudi Arabia.
Recognition of Palestinian statehood by additional countries, including France and the United Kingdom, he said, showed momentum that must be seized.
"A just and lasting peace will never be built through more violence," Mr. Guterres concluded. "It demands a collective commitment - to diplomacy, to international law, to the dignity of all people."
