UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has opened the 80th session of the General Assembly with a searing warning that Israel’s war on Gaza has reached “a third monstrous year,” describing the devastation as “the result of decisions that defy basic humanity.”
“The scale of death and destruction is beyond any other conflict in my years as secretary-general,” Guterres told world leaders in New York on Tuesday, recalling that the International Court of Justice had issued “legally binding” measures in the genocide case against Israel.
“Since then, a famine has been declared, and the killing has intensified,” he said, urging full and immediate implementation of the court’s orders.
‘Rise to the moment’
He called on the UN Security Council to “rise to the moment” by becoming “more representative, more transparent, and more effective.”
The Council, he stressed, must not stand idle as Gaza descends further into catastrophe.
Broadening his message, Guterres warned that the principles on which the UN was founded are “under siege” and that “the pillars of peace and progress are buckling under the weight of impunity, inequality, and indifference.”
Turning to global crises, the UN chief pointed to Sudan, where “civilians are being slaughtered, starved, and silenced,” and condemned cuts to aid budgets as “a death sentence for many” and “a stolen future for many more.”
He also pressed for urgent climate action, saying G20 countries, as the world’s biggest polluters, “must lead” with stronger national plans guided by common but differentiated responsibilities.
“Eighty years on, we confront again the question our founders faced: What kind of world do we choose to build together?” Guterres asked, framing the survival of the UN’s founding values as the defining test of this generation.
