Guterres: Hamas attacks can never justify the collective punishment of the Palestinian people

Antonio Guterres says the brutality of the 7 October attacks by Hamas on Israel does not absolve Israel of its own violations of humanitarian law.

He says that the people of Gaza are being told to move like human pinballs, without any of the basics for survival. “But nowhere in Gaza is safe,” he adds.

Guterres says that families have lost everything and have been sleeping on bare concrete floors, that there is a food crisis that most of the people in Gaza are starving.

He concludes that he “unreservedly condemns” Hamas’ 7 October attacks and calls for the immediate release of the Israeli hostages taken by Hamas.

“At the same time, the brutality perpetrated by Hamas can never justify the collective punishment of the Palestinian people,” he says.