MADRID 19 Oct. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Secretary General of the United Nations, António Guterres, reacted this Friday to the death of the leader of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), Yahya Sinwar, at the hands of the Israeli Army, ensuring that he hopes that “this will lead to an immediate ceasefire , to the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages and unrestricted humanitarian access to Gaza.”
“While he does not comment on developments of this nature, the Secretary General is interested in this leading now to an immediate ceasefire, the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages and unrestricted humanitarian access to Gaza,” he said during a his spokesperson, Farhan Haq, press conference.
These words come when the Hamas leader in the Gaza Strip, Jalil Haya, confirmed this Friday the death of Sinwar, a victim of a confrontation with Israeli troops in the Palestinian enclave. Israeli authorities, who made the announcement on Thursday, accused Guterres of pushing an “anti-Israel and anti-Jewish agenda” for not applauding the fall of the Islamist group’s main leader.
During his speech, televised and reported by the pan-Arab news network Al Jazeera, Haya assured that the group will not release the Israeli hostages it still holds captive until Israel stops its “aggression” on the Palestinian enclave, withdraws its troops and release all the Palestinian prisoners that Israel has in its jails.
The secretary general has been in contact with “several officials” of the United Nations, according to his spokesperson. Among these people is the UN special coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, Tor Wennesland, who has already called on the parties to dialogue and reach an agreement. “We are at a critical juncture (…) We must take advantage of the moment to silence the weapons and free the hostages now,” he said.
An estimated one hundred of the 240 hostages that Hamas kidnapped in the October 7 attacks in which 1,200 people died are still in the Gaza Strip. That attack was the trigger for an Israeli offensive in the Strip that has already left more than 42,500 dead and 99,500 injured.
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