Ammon News - UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned on Tuesday that Israeli violence, displacement and illegal settlement expansion in the occupied West Bank are undermining prospects for peace and raising the risk of “ethnic cleansing.”

“Violence, displacement, and settlement expansion by Israel in the occupied West Bank are bulldozing the path to peace and raising the specter of ethnic cleansing,” Guterres said in an address to the 81st UN General Assembly in New York.

“We cannot allow the two-state solution to disappear before our eyes,” he added.

Guterres said the devastating situation in the occupied Palestinian territories must not be overlooked amid the broader turmoil engulfing the Middle East.

He described the Oct. 7, 2023 attacks by Hamas as “abhorrent” but said they were followed by “an onslaught on Palestinians in Gaza, with a scale of killing and destruction unlike anything I’ve witnessed in my years as secretary-general.”

He recalled that the International Court of Justice had issued legally binding provisional measures in the case concerning the application of the Genocide Convention in the Gaza Strip.

The UN chief also referred to an advisory opinion issued by the court, saying the UN must be allowed to carry out its mandates in Gaza and that its staff and humanitarian personnel must be protected.

“All parties must comply with international law and the court’s orders,” he stressed.