Gaza war
UN chief urges Security Council to act on Gaza
UN Secretary-General António Guterres is pushing the Security Council exceptionally hard to take action in the Gaza war. photo
© Khalil Senosi/AP/dpa
The UN Security Council has met several times since the Hamas massacre in Israel and the war in the Gaza Strip – without any major results. Now Guterres is taking what he considers an extraordinary measure.
In a rare occurrence has UN Secretary-General António Guterres urged the Security Council to work to avert a humanitarian catastrophe in the Gaza Strip.
In a letter to the Security Council, the UN chief invoked Article 99 of the UN Charter for the first time since taking office in 2017. This allows the Secretary General to bring to the attention of the Security Council “any matter which, in his opinion, may jeopardize the guarantee of international peace and security” and, according to the UN, has not been used for decades.
“I call on the members of the Security Council to push to prevent a humanitarian catastrophe,” said the letter, which was available to the German Press Agency. “I repeat my call for a humanitarian ceasefire to be declared. This is urgent. The civilian population must be spared greater suffering.”
Invoking Article 99
The UN chief said that in view of the great loss of life in the Gaza Strip and Israel within a comparatively short period of time, he decided to invoke Article 99 of the UN Charter, the United Nations said. This has only happened very rarely in the history of the UN. Symbolically, the Secretary General gives his call greater significance. “This is a very dramatic, a very strong act and we hope that it moves the members of the Security Council and the international community,” said a spokesman for the Secretary General.
Invoking Article 99 has no direct consequences. However, it is expected that the Security Council will meet on the issue this week and that UN chief Guterres will also be there, said the spokesman. In addition, the Secretary General will also communicate with the members of the Security Council by telephone and in person in the coming days.
Normally, the members of the Security Council decide for themselves which issues they perceive as threats to world peace and therefore want to put on the agenda. The most powerful UN body has so far passed a resolution on the Gaza war, but otherwise has often appeared divided.
The war was triggered by the worst massacre in Israel’s history, carried out by terrorists from Hamas and other terrorist groups on October 7th in Israel near the border with the Gaza Strip. More than 1,200 people were killed. Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip have since killed more than 16,200 people in Gaza, according to the Hamas-controlled Ministry of Health. This information cannot currently be independently verified. However, the UN and observers point out that the authority’s figures have proven to be overall credible in the past.