International

Gaza situation morally, politically, legally intolerable – UN chief

Published

1 year ago

September 17, 2025

Secretary-General of the United Nations, António Guterres

United Nations Secretary-General, António Guterres

Gaza situation morally, politically, legally intolerable – UN chief

NEW YORK CITY/LONDON: The UN secretary-general condemned on Tuesday the “systematic destruction” of Gaza City, but insisted it was for the international courts to determine whether Israel is committing genocide.

Taking questions at UN headquarters, Antonio Guterres said it was not his role to make a legal determination of genocide after a team of experts commissioned by the UN’s Human Rights Council concluded that Israel is doing just that in Gaza.

UN agencies, global bodies and governments face mounting pressure to say that Israel’s conduct in the Palestinian territory since is began military operations in October 2023 amounts to genocide.

Asked whether he believes Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, Guterres said: “As I’ve said, time and time again, in these and different, similar circumstances, it is not in the attributions that the secretary-general to do the legal determination of genocide.

“That belongs to the adequate judicial entities, namely the International Court of Justice.”

Guterres nevertheless said that what is happening in Gaza is “horrendous.”

“We are seeing massive destruction of neighborhoods, now the systematic destruction of Gaza City, we are seeing massive killing of civilians in a way that I do not remember in any conflict since I (became) secretary-general,” he said.

“With the consequences that the Palestinian people are suffering a horrendous situation, famine, with no access to any kind of support, and with continued displacement and imminent risk of losing their lives at any moment.”

He added: “The truth is that this is something that is morally, politically and legally intolerable.”

Guterres’s comments came in response to a damning 72-page report by the Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory and Israel published on Tuesday.

Not only did the findings say that Israel has, since October 2023, committed and continues to commit acts of genocide against Palestinians in Gaza, it found the incitement to do so came from the highest political and military figures of the Israeli state.

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These included Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, President Isaac Herzog, and former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant.

“The ongoing genocide in Gaza is a moral outrage and a legal emergency,” Navi Pillay, head of the three-member commission of inquiry and a former International Criminal Court judge, told a press briefing in Geneva.

“The responsibility for these atrocity crimes lies with Israeli authorities at the highest echelons who have orchestrated a genocidal campaign for almost two years now with the specific intent to destroy the Palestinian group in Gaza.”

The report is based on a meticulous study of factual and legal findings in relation to attacks in Gaza by Israeli forces and the conduct of Israeli authorities.

The panel found Israel had committed four of the five genocidal acts defined by a 1948 international treaty known as the “Genocide Convention.”

The four acts are: Killing, causing serious bodily or mental harm, deliberately inflicting conditions of life calculated to bring about the destruction of the Palestinians in whole or in part, and imposing measures intended to prevent births.

The timing of the report’s release could not have been more pertinent, coming shortly after Israel announced a full-scale ground assault on Gaza City — the territory’s largest urban center.

While the conclusions may not come as a surprise to many, the significance of its findings could have global repercussions.

The commission itself is not a legal body, but the report could be incorporated into cases by prosecutors at the ICJ and the ICC.

The ICJ is examining a case brought by South Africa accusing Israeli forces of committing genocide against the Palestinians in Gaza.

The ICC has issued arrest warrants for both Netanyahu and Gallant for the war crime of starvation and the crimes against humanity of murder, persecution, and “other inhumane acts.”

The report was immediately attacked by Israel, but was widely welcomed by Palestinians and their supporters.

The foreign ministry of the Palestinian Authority, which governs in the occupied West Bank, said the report had “unequivocally proven” that Israel had committed the crime of genocide in Gaza “through a deliberate and widespread policy aimed at the systematic destruction of the Palestinian people.”

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The ministry called on the international community to take steps to protect the Palestinian people and “halt all forms of military and political support for Israel.”

The report does not represent the UN’s official position on whether acts of genocide have been carried out in Gaza, but it will increase pressure on UN agencies and governments to use the word.

Volker Turk, the UN high commissioner for human rights, also said it was up to the courts to decide “whether it’s genocide or not” but that the evidence was mounting.

“We see the piling up of war crime after war crime or crime against humanity, and potentially even more,” he said.

In the UK, where the government has come under increasing pressure to take a tougher stance against Israel, a Foreign Office spokesperson told Arab News that any formal determination as to whether genocide has occurred “should be made following a judgment by a competent national or international court.”

“What is happening in Gaza is appalling and we continue to call on Israel to change course immediately by halting its ground offensive and letting in a surge of humanitarian aid without delay,” the spokesperson said.

In a letter earlier this month, the former Foreign Secretary David Lammy wrote that the government “had not concluded that Israel is acting with genocidal intent.”

A joint statement from civil society organizations, including the British Palestinian Committee and Palestine Solidarity Campaign said that the commission of inquiry’s findings confirmed that Lammy was not only “wrong” but showed the extent of UK complicity in Israel’s crimes.

“This government has been playing a linguistic and legal game with MPs, the British public, and the lives of Palestinians,” the statement said. “Rather than doing everything in its power to protect an occupied people, the UK government has opted to back a state committing war crimes.”

The left-wing parliamentarian Zarah Sultana said the report confirmed what was already clear: that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza.

“This is the most documented genocide in history,” she wrote on X. “The government’s position was already morally indefensible. It is now politically untenable.”

Nimer Sultany, an expert in international law at the School of Oriental and African Studies, said the report was a nail in the coffin of a “genocide denial” that has delayed governments from acting against Israel.

He told Channel 4 News that the report was a “damning indictment of the policy of the UK government, of the European Commission, of European states, that have failed to act, that have continued to shield Israel from accountability.”

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Israel’s foreign ministry said it “categorically” rejected the report, describing it as “distorted and false.”

The report follows a resolution passed earlier this month by the International Association of Genocide Scholars saying Israel’s conduct meets the legal definition genocide laid out in the 1948 UN convention.

Israel faced further international pressure last week when the UN General Assembly voted overwhelmingly in favor of reviving the two-state solution between Israel and Palestine without involving Hamas.

The “New York Declaration” was presented jointly by Saudi Arabia and France, with the two countries set to host an international conference on the two-state solution at the UN headquarters on Sept. 22.

The French presidency said on Tuesday that the event was the “only viable solution and option on the table in order to come out of this terrible crisis.”

The “vast mobilization” of international support by Saudi Arabia and France for the two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict aims to convince the US that there is an “absolute urgency” to end the war in Gaza, the French presidency said on Tuesday.

The idea for the conference “came as a result of the state visit that President (Emmanuel) Macron paid to Saudi Arabia” last year, the Elysee said in a high-level briefing attended by Arab News.

“We were working with Saudi Arabia in reflecting on what kind of initiative we could jointly take in order to get a ceasefire in Gaza, an end to the war and a political solution to the crisis that would lead finally to the creation of two states and bring peace and security to all people in the region.”

A decision was made by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Macron last December to organize and elevate the proposed conference as a mechanism for implementing the two-state solution.

The UN General Assembly later voted to give a mandate to Saudi Arabia and France to host the conference, which held its first stage at the UN in July.

That event resulted in the New York Declaration, which was hailed by French Ambassador to the UN Jerome Bonnafont as a “single road map to deliver the two-state solution.”

Though the New York Declaration condemns Hamas and seeks to secure its international isolation, Israeli Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon last week accused the majority of the UNGA of “advancing terror.”

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US diplomat Morgan Ortagus told the chamber that the resolution was a “gift to Hamas,” adding: “Far from promoting peace, the conference has already prolonged the war, emboldened Hamas and harmed the prospects of peace in both short and long term.”

The French presidency rebuffed those accusations on Tuesday, warning that the “atrocious humanitarian catastrophe” and “unbearable human toll” in Gaza could only be resolved “on the basis of a political horizon for the two-state solution.”

The New York Declaration lays out “both a timeframe and irreversible step towards the two-state solution that would start with a ceasefire, the release of the hostages and humanitarian aid being offered without constraint to the Palestinian population in Gaza,” the Elysee said.

As part of post-war efforts to stabilize Gaza, a reformed Palestinian Authority must be allowed to operate in the enclave through a UN Security Council mandate, it added.

The French presidency highlighted that “all the Arab countries, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation leaders and the Arab League leaders” accepted the plan, which would see Hamas “have no part” in the administration of post-war Gaza.

The PA’s leader Mahmoud Abbas wrote a letter to Macron and the crown prince on June 9 which, in part, committed to reforming the authority.

As part of the joint international project, a slew of major countries — including Canada, Australia, Belgium and Portugal — have committed to recognizing Palestine at the Sept. 22 conference.

“This is the most significant movement since a long while because, for the very first time, UN Security Council member states but also G7 member states will recognize the state of Palestine,” the Elysee said.

“This will create a way for us to say that the two-state solution cannot be wiped out by the Israeli operation that we see happening on the ground.”

The French presidency expressed its concern over Israel’s recent strikes on Qatar that targeted Hamas leaders.

In the wake of the attack, leaders from the UK, France, Canada, Qatar, Jordan and Egypt held an emergency remote meeting, pledging solidarity with all Gulf states.

“No country should be stricken and the sovereignty of the neighboring countries of Israel should be respected. We managed to get a clear condemnation in the UN Security Council,” the Elysee said.

“But we need this collective mobilization to be crystal clear, and we hope for Sept. 22 to bring light on this international mobilization that needs to move the needle, and needs to convince the US that there is an absolute urgency to end this war.”

Gaza situation morally, politically, legally intolerable – UN chief

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Health

Fiji Declares National HIV Emergency as Diagnoses Surge Sixteenfold

Published

16 minutes ago

September 17, 2026

Hamdalat Bisiriyu

Fiji Declares National HIV Emergency as Diagnoses Surge Sixteenfold

Authorities launch a multi-agency public health campaign to expand free testing, treatment, and harm-reduction services

Fiji has announced a nationwide health response to address a significant rise in HIV cases and ensure that all residents can access essential medical care.

On Wednesday, Health Minister Dr. Atonio Lalabalavu shared the emergency declaration, explaining that national agencies are joining forces to provide rapid medical support, expand testing, and protect community well-being across the islands.

Official reports indicate that about one in every 60 adults in Fiji currently lives with HIV, following an increase in new infections over recent years. Health specialists explain that the virus spreads primarily through intimate sexual contact and shared needles among individuals using illicit substances.

Additionally, routine screenings revealed that two out of every 100 expecting mothers carry the virus, highlighting an urgent need for early maternal healthcare to protect newborns from infection.

To safeguard public health, authorities are delivering free daily treatments, distributing protective preventive medications, and setting up clean needle programs to stop infections before they start.

Furthermore, global partners, including Australia, New Zealand, India, and United Nations health bodies are providing financial resources and medical supplies to back the local effort.

By encouraging open community conversations and delivering accessible healthcare without judgment, health workers aim to ensure that everyone receives the care and dignity they deserve.

Fiji Declares National HIV Emergency as Diagnoses Surge Sixteenfold

International

Kim Yo-jong: Only ‘Idiots’ Think North Korea Will Give Up Nuclear Weapons

Published

18 minutes ago

September 17, 2026

Trends Admin

Kim Yo-jong: Only ‘Idiots’ Think North Korea Will Give Up Nuclear Weapons

Kim Yo-jong, the powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, has declared that her country’s status as a nuclear weapons state is “absolute” and can never be reversed — dismissing international hopes for denuclearisation as the delusions of “idiots.”

In a statement carried by the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on Thursday, Kim rejected the recent International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) General Conference’s demand for North Korea’s “complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearisation” (CVID) as “familiar nonsense” . “The DPRK’s position as a nuclear weapons state is absolute, which cannot be reversed by anything,” she said, using the acronym for the country’s official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea .

Kim, who serves as Director of the General Affairs Department of the Workers’ Party of Korea, compared the international community’s repeated calls for denuclearisation to “noise that is neither surprising nor new, heard constantly around this time every year like a sound ringing day and night from an answering machine” . She went on to assert that no amount of diplomatic pressure could alter Pyongyang’s position. “No matter how desperately the IAEA and the West may hold periodic meetings and talk about denuclearisation according to the fixed scenario, they can have no effect on the will and ability of the DPRK to take all necessary measures to defend the supreme interests of the state” . She added: “Those humans sitting together and chattering to try and change our state’s current status must clearly realise what a pathetic delusion and futile waste of effort it is” .

Kim’s statement came during the 70th IAEA General Conference in Vienna, where South Korea and European nations urged North Korea to fulfil its international obligations and abandon its nuclear programme . A South Korean Unification Ministry official said the ministry was “taking note” of Kim’s remarks, assessing them as an attempt to make clear to Washington that denuclearisation is off the table for any potential summit . The timing is particularly noteworthy given recent signals from US President Donald Trump about resuming dialogue with Kim Jong Un. In August 2026, Trump told reporters he expected to meet the North Korean leader later in the year, saying: “Yeah, I will be. I get along with him very well” . Trump also stated that Pyongyang possesses 57 “very powerful” nuclear weapons, marking the first time he had publicly cited a specific figure for North Korea’s arsenal .

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The disclosure sparked a rare public discussion of intelligence assessments. South Korean Defence Minister Ahn Gyu-back told lawmakers that Seoul typically estimates North Korea has 80 to 120 nuclear weapons — a figure higher than Trump’s claim . Ahn noted that the estimates held by South Korea and the United States “appear to be slightly different,” though he later clarified that he was citing a private research institute’s assessment rather than an official military figure . Both Seoul and Washington have maintained they do not recognise North Korea as a nuclear-armed state. “We can never officially acknowledge that,” Ahn said when asked whether Seoul accepts Pyongyang’s nuclear possession . Independent estimates vary. The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) has estimated that North Korea possessed approximately 60 nuclear warheads as of January 2026, with sufficient fissile material for roughly 30 more .

Ahead of the General Conference, the IAEA released its annual report detailing North Korea’s expanding nuclear capabilities. The agency observed that a new uranium enrichment facility at Yongbyon — identified as the site’s second enrichment facility — could accommodate up to 28 centrifuge cascades, the largest scale among North Korea’s known enrichment sites . The IAEA identified the facility by comparing satellite imagery with photographs of Kim Jong Un’s June 2026 visit to a “newly inaugurated nuclear materials production factory,” which state media reported at the time. The photographs indicated gas centrifuge cascades installed on both the upper and lower floors of the two-storey building . The report also noted indications that operations began in January 2026 at a uranium enrichment facility in Kangson, near Pyongyang, within an annex constructed in 2024 . IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi said the developments were a “cause for serious concern,” adding: “The continuation and further development of the DPRK’s nuclear programme are clear violations of relevant UN Security Council resolutions and are deeply regrettable” . The European Union, in a statement to the IAEA Board of Governors, condemned North Korea’s “unlawful and destabilising actions” and urged it to abandon all nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programmes in a “complete, verifiable and irreversible manner” .

Kim’s remarks are consistent with North Korea’s long-standing position. Pyongyang has legally enshrined its status as a nuclear weapons state, declaring its arsenal permanent and irreversible. The country has repeatedly rejected denuclearisation as a precondition for dialogue . North Korea’s mission to the United Nations in Vienna said last September that the country’s status as a nuclear weapons state had become irreversible and the IAEA had “no legal right … to interfere in the internal affairs of a nuclear weapons state which exists outside the NPT” . Analysts note that North Korea has set high barriers for any renewed summit with Washington, including major changes to US policy and acceptance of its nuclear status — conditions the Trump administration has shown no sign of meeting . The US State Department has maintained that Washington “remains committed to the complete denuclearisation of North Korea” . For now, Kim’s message was unambiguous: “No one and nothing can ever reverse the crucial changes in the strength and position of the DPRK and prevent them in the future, too” .

Kim Yo-jong: Only ‘Idiots’ Think North Korea Will Give Up Nuclear Weapons

International

Gaza Building Collapse Kills 21, Including Eight Children

Published

2 hours ago

September 17, 2026

Trends Admin

Gaza Building Collapse Kills 21, Including Eight Children

At least 21 people have been killed, including eight children, after a war-damaged building collapsed in Gaza City overnight, rescuers and medics say. The tragedy has renewed concerns about the collapse risk facing hundreds of bomb-damaged structures across the Gaza Strip as winter approaches.

The six-storey residential building in Gaza City’s Tal al-Hawa area collapsed in the early hours of Wednesday. According to the United Nations humanitarian coordinator for the occupied Palestinian territories, Ramiz Alakbarov, an estimated 100 people, including 50 children, were living in the building when it came down. The Gaza Civil Defence agency confirmed that rescuers extracted 21 bodies and rescued 20 unharmed individuals from the rubble on al-Sinaa Street in Tal al-Hawa. Dozens remain missing or injured underneath the debris.

Witnesses told the BBC that the building had been left tilting dangerously to one side after an Israeli strike more than a year ago. Displaced families had moved inside because they were desperate, with nowhere else to go. The building had been hit multiple times in 2024 and March 2025, leading to warnings for Gazans not to return, according to Civil Defence spokesman Mahmoud Basal. More than 10 families, totalling around 80 people, lived in the building, according to residents, with dozens of them being children. Sherif, whose sister was killed, said: “They couldn’t find a tent or somewhere to live. This was the last place they could turn to, despite the danger. They were aware that it would likely end in tragedy. A lack of resources drove them towards certain death.“

A woman living in a tent nearby, Umm Mohammed Bakrun, said she had been talking to her son when the building collapsed suddenly. “It felt like an earthquake. There was a loud sound and I couldn’t stand up. Stones rained down on us and when I looked outside I saw a lot of dust,” she told the BBC. “Within minutes, there were screams everywhere.” Another witness, Mansour Abu Mohammed, said the building collapsed “in a few seconds”. “Every day, a stone or a few stones would fall from it, but the people inside couldn’t find anywhere else to live. I used to live next door to it and you could see that it was tilting to one side.”

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UN and Egyptian teams joined the search for survivors, which was slow due to a lack of heavy machinery. Initially, rescuers from the Hamas-run Civil Defence agency had to use their bare hands. Egypt provided heavy machinery for the rescue operation, while the United Arab Emirates and Qatar were set to deliver relief items. The Palestinian Civil Defence said rescue teams had been working continuously since the collapse, but lacked even the most basic tools. “In the first moments after the collapse, we had to ask neighbours and displaced people nearby to bring hammers, shovels and other tools because of the severe shortage of equipment,” said Abdullah al-Majdalawi, director of public relations at Gaza’s Civil Defence. The head of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Gaza office, Alessandro Mrakic, told reporters at the scene that “the situation… is tragic because we don’t have the equipment and machinery that is needed”.

Mrakic warned that approximately 400 other war-damaged buildings across Gaza were at imminent risk of collapse, particularly as winter approaches. The Civil Defence agency has identified around 2,000 buildings across the territory at risk of collapse. “We need support, most importantly with machinery, equipment, among others. Our colleagues here don’t have [engine] oil and spare parts to continue to work with all the equipment that is still in Gaza.” The UN’s humanitarian relief coordinator, Ramiz Alakbarov, said he was “devastated” by the reports. “No-one should have to risk their life simply to find a safe place to shelter,” he said. He also urged Israeli authorities to approve deliveries to Gaza of heavy machinery for rescue operations, as well as tents, tarpaulins and other non-food items for displaced people ahead of the winter rains. Israel says its restrictions are meant to keep equipment out of the hands of Palestinian armed groups that could also have military uses.

An estimated 80% of all structures in Gaza have been destroyed or damaged during the war between Israel and Hamas, according to the UN. More than 1.9 million people — about 90% of the territory’s population — have been displaced, many of them multiple times, and 1.2 million of them are currently living in tents or makeshift shelters. The UN has warned that the humanitarian situation in Gaza remains dire despite the ceasefire agreed last October, as Israeli air strikes and other attacks continue to hit populated areas, causing casualties and property damage and driving further displacement. According to Gaza’s health ministry, 1,369 Palestinians have been killed and 4,627 wounded since the fragile ceasefire took effect on 11 October 2025. The total death toll since the war began has reached 73,783, with 174,738 injured.

On Tuesday, Israeli air strikes killed at least five Palestinians, including two children and a Hamas commander, according to health officials and Hamas sources. The Israeli military said it killed a Hamas commander in southern Gaza and another fighter in the north. In both cases, a child was also reportedly killed. Separately, the British charity Medical Aid for Palestinians said that a patient was killed by an Israeli drone at a health centre it supports in Jabalia in northern Gaza. A spokesperson for the Israeli military told the BBC it was not aware of such an incident.

The Gaza war was triggered by the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, when about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage. Since then, more than 73,790 people have been killed in Gaza, according to the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry, whose figures are considered reliable by the UN. In a statement, the Gaza government media office under Hamas said it held “the Israeli occupation and the international community fully and directly responsible for this catastrophe befalling our Palestinian people“.