ISRAEL demanded United Nations secretary-general Antonio Guterres’s resignation today for pointing out that the surprise Hamas attack on the south of the country “did not happen in a vacuum.” 

As Israel air strikes on the Gaza Strip killed dozens of people at a time and destroyed hundreds of homes, Israeli ambassador to the UN Gilad Erdan called on Mr Guterres to quit for “justifying a slaughter” and claimed that his country was being forced to rethink its relations with the world body.

He told Army Radio that Israel “will refuse to grant visas to UN representatives. We have already refused to give one to under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs Martin Griffiths.

“It’s time to teach them a lesson,” Mr Erdan added.

Israeli officials accused Mr Guterres of justifying terrorism and Foreign Minister Eli Cohen cancelled a scheduled meeting with Mr Guterres.

Mr Cohen posted on social media platform X: “I will not meet with the UN secretary-general. There is no place for a balanced approach.

“Hamas must be erased off the face of the planet!”

On Tuesday, Mr Guterres addressed a special security council meeting on the Israel-Gaza war sparked by Hamas’s surprise October 7 attack, which left at least 1,400 Israelis dead and more than 220 taken hostage.

Israeli air strikes have caused extensive destruction in Gaza and, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, killed at least 6,500 Palestinians, including over 2,700 children. 

Mr Guterres told the security council that he “condemned unequivocally the horrifying and unprecedented” attack by Hamas.

“Nothing can justify the deliberate killing, injuring and kidnapping of civilians — or the launching of rockets against civilian targets.”

But it is important to acknowledge that “the attacks by Hamas did not happen in a vacuum,” he added.

“The Palestinian people have been subjected to 56 years of suffocating occupation. 

“They have seen their land steadily devoured by settlements and plagued by violence, their economy stifled, their people displaced and their homes demolished.

“Their hopes for a political solution to their plight have been vanishing.”

Meanwhile, Israel stepped up air strikes across Gaza, leaving hundreds more Palestinians dead. The Gaza Health Ministry said that Israeli attacks had killed at least 704 people on Tuesday alone, mostly women and children.

As well as the relentless Israeli bombardment causing an unprecendented number of deaths, Gaza’s 2.3 million people having all but run out of food, water and medicines.