UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called on Monday for a “permanent ceasefire” in the Gaza Strip between Israel and Hamas, two days before the anniversary of the October 7, 2023 attack.
“It is time for the ceasefire to become permanent. It is time to allow humanitarian aid to enter the enclave on a large scale. It is time to uphold international law,” Guterres said in a message ahead of the anniversary.
“We must build a political path to lasting peace across the region. The United Nations remains steadfast in its commitment to this imperative,” he added.
He urged the building of a “different future” in which Israelis and Palestinians can live side by side in peace and security, “with their rights, their dignity and their aspirations fully realised”.
Hamas’s assault on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, which the UN chief described as “horrific”, left 1,221 people dead on the Israeli side, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.
“I mourn those killed in the attacks and those who died in captivity,” Guterres said. “The suffering they endured, and the unending grief of their families, must never be forgotten.”
Israel’s large-scale military operations in the Gaza Strip that followed have killed at least 74,200 people, most of them civilians, according to the Hamas-run health ministry in the territory, whose figures the UN considers reliable.
“Civilians continue to endure unbearable conditions. Their suffering must also end, now,” Guterres said of the small Palestinian territory.
The political future of the enclave remains uncertain after the ceasefire announced by US President Donald Trump in October 2025.
Israel, which still occupies most of the Gaza Strip, refuses to withdraw its troops until Hamas’s disarmament has been verified. The Palestinian Islamist movement says disarmament would be gradual and rejects an immediate, unilateral handover of its arsenal.
Following the Hamas attack, Israel’s armed forces became engaged in a multi-front war, notably in Lebanon against Hezbollah, the Iran-backed Shiite movement, and against Iran itself, alongside the United States.
