Guterres: The world must not be afraid of Israel's reactions.

Arabian Sea Newspaper - Special

Arab Sea - Follow-ups: United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres warned that the world should not "fear" Israeli reactions, in light of the Hebrew state continuing its war in the Gaza Strip and its pursuit of gradually annexing the West Bank. Reports indicated that Israel threatened to annex the West Bank if Western countries proceed with recognizing the State of Palestine on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly meeting next week in New York. He said: "We should not be afraid of the risk of a retaliatory reaction, because whether we do what we do or not, these actions will continue, and at least there is an opportunity to mobilize the international community to exert pressure to prevent this from happening." He added to "Agence France-Presse": "I don't think we are talking about a retaliatory reaction in relation to this or that. There has been continuous progress in the actions of the Israeli government with the aim of completely destroying Gaza now, and gradually annexing the West Bank." Guterres has led calls for Israel to stop its war in the Strip and back down from the "unprecedented" attack it is threatening to launch on the city of Gaza. He continued: "It is the worst level of death and destruction I have seen since I took office as Secretary-General, and perhaps in my life, and the suffering of the Palestinian people is indescribable, famine, a complete lack of effective health care, and people living without adequate shelter in areas of enormous overcrowding." However, the UN Secretary-General refrained from describing Israel's behavior in Gaza as "genocide," despite the use of this description by UN agencies, which Israel strongly rejects. He said: "The problem is that it is not within my mandate to legally determine whether there is genocide." He added: "This is not within my powers. But let's be clear, the problem is not in the word, the problem is in the reality on the ground." The Israeli army began its attack on Gaza City on Tuesday, and for days it has been asking residents to head south, but many Palestinians say they do not know where to go.