Gaza: UN boss invokes Article 99 of UN Charter, says besieged enclave is ‘deteriorating into a catastrophe’
The UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, in a dramatic move, invoked a UN article not used in decades to call on members of the Security Council to “avert a humanitarian catastrophe” in Gaza as Israel continues its destructive attacks in the besieged enclave.
Article 99 of the founding UN Charter allows the Secretary General to “bring to the attention of the Security Council any matter which in his opinion may threaten the maintenance of international peace and security.”
He pointed out that Gaza is facing a severe risk of collapse of the humanitarian system.
Mr Guterres wrote in a letter to the 15-member council that “the situation is fast deteriorating into a catastrophe with potentially irreversible implications for Palestinians as a whole and for peace and security in the region.”
He added that “such an outcome must be avoided at all cost” and made an urgent appeal for a ceasefire to be declared in Gaza.
In a similar development, the EU foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, has asked European states to back Guterres on the call to end Israeli aggression on the besieged territory.
He posted on X that the United Nations Security Council “must act immediately to prevent a full collapse of the humanitarian situation in Gaza.”
Meanwhile, Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen had condemned the UN boss, saying said Guterres’ “call for a ceasefire in Gaza constitutes support of the Hamas terrorist organization”
The war on Gaza by Israel has killed more than 16,200 people in retaliatory campaigns, including about 7,000 children.
