United Nations, United States:
The UN Special Coordinator for Middle East Peace warned on Tuesday that the region was at its “most dangerous moment” in decades as the war between Israel and Iranian-backed groups risked spiraling into a wider conflict .
“We have now entered the second year of this horrific conflict and the region is on the brink of another serious escalation,” Tor Wennesland told the Security Council.
His comments come just days after Israel carried out airstrikes on military sites in Iran in response to the October 1 rocket attack in Tehran, in retaliation for the killings of Iranian-backed militant leaders and a Revolutionary Guards commander.
“Every effort – by all of us – must be made to de-escalate the situation and chart a different path towards greater peace and stability in the region,” he said.
More than a year after Hamas’ unprecedented attack on Israel on October 7 sparked the devastating war in Gaza, which has now spread to Lebanon, the deadly violence shows “no signs of abating,” Wennesland said.
“We are witnessing not only a horrific humanitarian nightmare, but a rapidly accelerating unraveling of the prospects for a lasting solution to this conflict.”
He said he visited Gaza last week where he “saw the enormity of the devastation this war has inflicted on the population.”
“I saw the immense destruction of residential buildings, roads, hospitals and schools. I saw thousands of people living in makeshift tents, with nowhere else to go as winter approaches.”
Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed at least 43,020 Palestinians in Gaza, most of them civilians, according to figures from the Hamas-run Health Ministry, which the United Nations considers reliable and has prompted warnings of a humanitarian catastrophe.
During the October 7 attack, Palestinian militants seized 251 hostages, including soldiers and civilians, 97 of whom remain in Gaza. The Israeli army says 34 of them are dead.
The attack resulted in the deaths of 1,206 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.
And in Lebanon, according to an AFP count based on official figures, at least 1,700 people have been killed since September 23, when fighting escalated as Israel launched an air and ground offensive against Hezbollah, which had carried out rocket attacks in support of Hamas.
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