The international community has been encouraged by UN Secretary-General António Guterres to keep advocating for a complete ceasefire and the release of all hostages in Gaza.

At a meeting of the UN Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, which convened to choose a new bureau and approve a work plan for the year, he made this request.

The UN chief’s remarks followed remarks made by US President Donald Trump at the White House on Tuesday night, when he called on Palestinians to leave the Gaza Strip and implied that the United States may “take over” the region.

Speaking to members of the Committee, the Secretary-General said that “the enjoyment of the Palestinian people’s inalienable rights is fundamentally about the right of Palestinians to live as human beings in their land simply.”

However, he pointed out that “we have seen the realization of those rights steadily slip farther out of reach” and that “an entire people has been dehumanized and demonized in a chilling, systematic manner.”

He underlined that “what we have seen unfold in Gaza over these last many months” and “of course, nothing justifies the horrific Hamas attacks of October 7.”

According to reports, about 50,000 people were killed, mostly women and children, and the majority of Gaza’s civilian infrastructure was destroyed. Guterres referred to this as “the catalogue of destruction and unspeakable horrors.”

In addition, children have been out of school for more than a year, and the vast majority of people have experienced repeated dislocation, hunger, and illness—”a generation left homeless and traumatized.”

The ceasefire and hostage-release agreement between Israel and Hamas, which was announced in January, was praised by the Secretary-General. He expressed gratitude to the United States, Qatar, and Egypt, the mediators, for their ongoing efforts to see it through to completion.

“The time has come to be quite clear about our future goals.

First and foremost, we need to continue advocating for a lasting ceasefire and the immediate release of all captives. We can’t return to more devastation and death,” he declared.