UN Secretary-General stands firm on condemnation of Israel’s Jenin raid

Israel’s Ambassador to the United Nations has urged UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to retract his condemnation of Israeli forces for their use of excessive force and harm inflicted on civilians during the devastating raid on the Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank.
In response, UN deputy spokesperson Farhan Haq stated on Friday that Guterres maintains his stance, having conveyed his views on Israel’s operation in the Jenin refugee camp.

Guterres expressed his outrage at the Israeli air attacks on Jenin and the resulting danger posed to the civilian population. In a statement issued on Thursday, he declared that the assault had led to over 100 civilian injuries, displacement of thousands of residents, damage to schools and hospitals, and disruption of water and electricity networks.
“The air strikes and ground operations by Israel in a densely populated refugee camp represent the most severe violence in the West Bank in recent years, significantly impacting civilians,” stated Guterres.

Furthermore, the UN chief criticized Israel for obstructing medical care for the injured and impeding the access of humanitarian workers to those in need during the military raid, which resulted in the deaths of 12 Palestinians and approximately 100 wounded. One Israeli soldier was also killed.

Israel’s UN Ambassador Gilad Erdan denounced the UN chief’s criticism of the Israeli military assault as “shameful, far-fetched, and completely detached from reality.”
At the request of the United Arab Emirates, the UN Security Council held a closed-door discussion on Israel’s Jenin operation on Friday, during which they received a briefing from UN Assistant Secretary-General Khaled Khiari.

Prior to the council meeting, Erdan sent a letter to the 15 council members and Guterres, insisting that the “international community and the Security Council must unequivocally condemn the latest Palestinian terror attacks and hold the Palestinian leadership accountable.”
Erdan claimed that Israeli forces in Jenin solely focused on those involved in “terror targeting innocent Israeli civilians.”
In a statement released on Wednesday, three independent human rights experts argued that the Israeli air attacks and ground actions in Jenin “constitute flagrant violations of international law and standards regarding the use of force and may amount to a war crime.”

No action was taken by the Security Council on Friday regarding the matter.