United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Wednesday warned against the “ethnic cleansing” in Gaza as he rejected US President Donald Trump’s controversial proposal for the United States to take control of the Palestinian people and the territory.
“At its essence, the exercise of the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people is about the right of Palestinians to simply live as human beings in their own land,” UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in a speech to a United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees, that deals with the rights of Palestinians, according to AFP.
Guterres further added, “We have seen the realisation of those rights steadily slip farther out of reach.”
“We have seen a chilling, systematic dehumanisation and demonisation of an entire people,” the UN chief said.
On Tuesday, during a White House news conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Trump made a startling proposal for the United States to assume “long-term ownership” of Gaza, sparking global outrage. His remarks followed repeated calls in recent days for the residents of the war-torn territory to relocate to Jordan or Egypt.
Speaking specifically on Trump’s proposal, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said that any forced displacement of people “is tantamount to ethnic cleansing.”
“It is vital that we stay true to the bedrock of international law. It is essential to avoid any form of ethnic cleansing,” Dujarric added.
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Following the international outcry, the Trump administration tried to walk back on the Trump proposal and said that the displacement would only be temporary, till the US has a chance to rebuild the largely destroyed territory. They further added that Trump had not committed to deploying US troops to carry out his plan.
According to AFP, Guterres insisted on the idea of a two-state solution with Israel and the Palestinians living side by side in peace.
“Any durable peace will require tangible, irreversible and permanent progress toward the two-state solution, an end to the occupation, and the establishment of an independent Palestinian State, with Gaza as an integral part,” he said, as per the report.
Palestinian envoy to the UN, Riyad Mansour, urged for a “successful” international conference at the United Nations in June, co-chaired by Saudi Arabia and France, to address the crisis.
Despite large-scale destruction in northern Gaza, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have returned since late January under a fragile truce that has temporarily halted over 15 months of war. Israel’s military offensive, launched after Hamas’s 2023 attack, has left northern Gaza—including Gaza City—in ruins, with homes, hospitals, schools, and nearly all civil infrastructure destroyed.
Mansour reiterated Palestinians’ rejection of Trump’s plan to take over Gaza. He said, “we are not going to leave Gaza”. “It is part of our homeland, and we don’t have a homeland other than the State of Palestine.”
