NEW YORK CITY: The Security Council on Thursday affirmed its “full support” for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, and said any decision not to engage with him or his office was counterproductive. 

Israel on Wednesday banned Guterres from entering the country. Foreign Minister Israel Katz declared him to be persona non grata and an “anti-Israel secretary-general who lends support to terrorists,” citing as a reason what he described as the UN chief’s failure to condemn the Iranian missile attack against Israel on Tuesday.

“Anyone who cannot unequivocally condemn Iran’s heinous attack on Israel, as nearly all the countries of the world have done, does not deserve to set foot on Israeli soil,” he said.

“Israel will continue to defend its citizens and uphold its national dignity, with or without Antonio Guterres.”

Stephane Dujarric, spokesperson for Guterres, described Katz’s comments as political and “just one more attack on UN staff that we’ve seen from the government of Israel.” The concept of “persona non grata” does not apply to UN staff, he added.

Addressing an emergency meeting of the Security Council on Wednesday, Guterres said he had condemned a similar attack against Israel by Iran in April and added: “As should have been obvious yesterday, in the context of the condemnation I expressed, I again strongly condemn yesterday’s massive missile attack by Iran on Israel.

“These attacks, paradoxically, do not seem to support the cause of the Palestinian people or reduce their suffering.”

Guterres also criticized Israel’s military operations in Gaza, describing them as “the most deadly and destructive military campaign in my years as secretary-general.”

Switzerland holds the presidency of the Security Council this month. The country’s permanent representative to the UN, Pascale Baeriswyl, said on Thursday that members of the council stressed the need for all nations to “have a productive and effective relationship with the secretary-general and to refrain from any actions that undermine his work and that of his office.”

She added: “The members of the Security Council further underscored that any decision not to engage with the UN secretary-general or the United Nations is counterproductive, especially in the context of escalating tensions in the Middle East.”

RAMALLAH: At least 16 people were killed in the West Bank refugee camp of Tulkarm, the Palestinian health ministry said late Thursday, following an Israeli air strike in the area.
“Sixteen martyrs following the bombing of the Tulkarm camp by the occupation,” the Palestinian health ministry said on its Telegram account.
The Israeli army confirmed the strike on the town in the northern West Bank, describing it as a joint operation carried out by the Shin Bet internal security service and the air force, according to a brief statement by the military.
Reached by telephone, camp official Faisal Salama told AFP that the attack had been carried out by an F-16 fighter.
A resident from the area said the Israeli plane had “hit a cafeteria in a three-story building.”
“There are many victims in the hospital,” the resident added, saying the toll would likely rise.
Violence in the West Bank has surged alongside the war in Gaza which began after Hamas attacked Israel on October 7.
Since the Hamas attack, Israeli troops or settlers have killed at least 699 Palestinians in the West Bank, according to the Palestinian health ministry.
At least 24 Israelis, including members of the security forces, have been killed in Palestinian militant attacks during the same period, Israeli officials say.
Major Israeli operations in the West Bank are sometimes occurring “at a scale not witnessed in the last two decades,” United Nations human rights chief Volker Turk said last month.
Israel has occupied the West Bank since 1967, and its forces regularly make incursions into Palestinian communities, but the current raids as well as comments by Israeli officials mark an escalation, residents say.