World is in 'age of chaos', Guterres warns
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The UN Secretary-General warns that if Israeli occupation forces (IOF) invaded the southern city of Rafah in Gaza, there would be "untold regional consequences."
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United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres speaks at the UN General Assembly to present priorities for 2024 at UN headquarters in New York City, the US. (AFP)
The world is heading into "an age of chaos" with a profoundly divided Security Council unable to address crucial matters such as the war on Gaza, the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres announced on Wednesday,
The number of martyrs in Gaza has risen to 27,708, while the number of wounded who sought treatment to 67,147 people.
Guterres warned that if Israeli occupation forces (IOF) invaded the southern city of Rafah in Gaza, there would be an increased humanitarian nightmare with "untold regional consequences."
The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) has held the US administration and the international community responsible for the serious consequences of any ground Israeli invasion of the city of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip.
Commenting on the anticipated Israeli extensive ground offensive against Rafah, the PFLP warned that the occupation has paved the way for this invasion by intensifying its fierce bombardment of the city and the homes of innocent citizens.
Rafah has become a refuge for the majority of Palestinians fleeing the relentless Israeli onslaughts and massacres throughout the Strip. Over half of Gaza's 2.3 million population are now residing there, almost 80% of which are forcibly displaced from other regions, with makeshift tent zones dominating the city.
In a UNGA speech, Guterres called for an "immediate humanitarian ceasefire and the unconditional release of all hostages."
In the speech, he advocated for changes to the Security Council and the international banking system, among other reforms, citing his "Summit of the Future" in September as a vital venue for addressing dysfunction that is "deeper and more dangerous" than before.
"The United Nations Security Council -- the primary platform for questions of global peace -- is deadlocked by geopolitical fissures."
He detailed that while in the Cold War, there were mechanisms that aided the management of superpower relationships, such mechanisms do not exist in today's "multipolar world".
"Our world is entering in an age of chaos..., a dangerous and unpredictable free-for-all with total impunity," Guterres cautioned.
He urged global leaders to take the chance of the "Summit of the Future," which will be convened in September in New York on the fringes of the annual General Assembly, to "shape multilateralism for years to come."
Following the Covid-19 outbreak, he renewed calls for the creation of an "emergency platform to improve the international response to complex global shocks."
He reiterated that climate change is the "defining challenge of our time" calling humanity's war with nature one that is a sure loss.
