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Israel Bans UN Chief Guterres From Entering Country Over Response to Iran Attack, Hamas Massacre
United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres speaks to members of the Security Council during a meeting to address the situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian question, at UN headquarters in New York City, New York, US, April 18, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Eduardo Munoz
Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz announced on Wednesday that United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres is “persona non grata in Israel” and banned from entering the Jewish state because of his failure to unequivocally condemn Iran by name for launching a barrage of ballistic missiles at Israel on Tuesday.
“Anyone who cannot unequivocally condemn Iran’s heinous attack on Israel, as almost every country in the world has done, does not deserve to step foot on Israeli soil,” Katz wrote in a post on X/Twitter where he announced the move to bar Guterres.
Katz also lambasted the UN chief for his response to the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas’s Oct. 7 massacre across southern Israel.
“This is a Secretary-General who has yet to denounce the massacre and sexual atrocities committed by Hamas murderers on October 7, nor has he led any efforts to declare them a terrorist organization,” Katz added. “A Secretary-General who gives backing to terrorists, rapists, and murderers from Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis, and now Iran — the mothership of global terror — will be remembered as a stain on the history of the UN. Israel will continue to defend its citizens and uphold its national dignity, with or without António Guterres.”
Iran, the chief international sponsor of Hamas, launched 181 ballistic missiles at Israel on Tuesday, forcing all of Israel’s population of 10 million people to hide in bomb shelters. The state of Israel said only one person was killed in the missile attack — Sameh Asli, 37, a Palestinian from Jabalia in the Gaza Strip. He was killed by missile shrapnel in the West Bank village of Nu’eima, near Jericho, during the attack.
Guterres took to X/Twitter on Tuesday to comment on Iran’s ballistic missile attack against Israel, but he failed to name Israel or Iran in his remarks.
“I condemn the broadening of the Middle East conflict with escalation after escalation. This must stop. We absolutely need a ceasefire,” Guterres wrote in his post, which has been viewed by 9.5 million people.
French-Jewish philosopher and writer Bernard-Henri Lévy tweeted in response: “No, @antonioguterres. What should be condemned is not ‘escalation’ but ‘#Iran.’ By failing to say that, the #UN (and you) prove, once again, to be blind, deaf, useless, shameful and devoid of any moral sense. #Israel has to win.”
Arsen Ostrovsky, a human rights lawyer and CEO of The International Legal Forum, commented on Guterres’ post saying, “You pathetic, disgusting coward. You could not even mention Israel. You are beyond redemption.”
Others accused the UN chief of “always being on the side of the terrorists” and “covering up for the IRGC [Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, an internationally designated terrorist organization] in Iran, which you conveniently are unable to even mention.”
“There will be a ceasefire when the [Iranian] regime is where it belongs — in the dustbin of history, and the Middle East is free,” another X user told Guterres.
A post on X by UN Secretary-General António Guterres. Photo: Screenshot
Guterres has been condemned by Israeli officials in the past and even faced pressure to resign after he seemed to blame Israel for the Oct. 7 massacre, during which Hamas-led Palestinian terrorists murdered 1,200 people and took over 250 hostages back to the Gaza Strip during their rampage across southern Israel. There are still 101 hostages being held in Gaza by Hamas.
Israeli officials have often accused the UN of having a bias against the Jewish state, and Israel’s Ambassador to the United Nations Danny Danon recently called on the international body to apply more sanctions against Iran until its “capacity to support terror is completely diminished.”
The UN General Assembly passed with an overwhelming majority last month a non-binding Palestinian resolution demanding that Israel end its “occupation” of the Gaza Strip, West Bank, and East Jerusalem within 12 months.
The post Israel Bans UN Chief Guterres From Entering Country Over Response to Iran Attack, Hamas Massacre first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.