UN Secretary-General António Guterres urged the international community to continue pushing for a full ceasefire and the release of all hostages in Gaza, and “to avoid any form of ethnic cleansing” in the enclave, in a speech in New York on Wednesday.
He was addressing the opening of the latest session of the UN Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, which met to elect a new bureau and adopt a programme of work for the year.
The UN chief spoke in the wake of comments made by United States President Donald Trump on Tuesday night in the White House, who suggested the US could “take over” the Gaza Strip, calling on Palestinians living there to leave.
Prior to the Committee meeting, journalists asked UN Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric at the noon briefing in New York if the Secretary-General believed the President’s plan amounted to ethnic cleansing: “Any forced displacement of people is tantamount to ethnic cleansing,” he responded.
