Israel denies visa to UN humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths as a result of comments to the UN by Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.

Israeli media reports that Israel’s ambassador to the UN, Gilad Erdan, said on army radio that “because of his remarks we will deny visas to UN representatives. We have already refused a visa to Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Martin Griffiths. It’s time to teach them a lesson.”

Israel has called on UN Secretary-General Guterres to resign after the latter argued that the “terrible attacks” by Hamas against Israel on October 7 cannot justify the “collective punishment of the Palestinian people” and spoke of “we are witnessing in Gaza the violations of international humanitarian law”.

Antonio Guterres had said “Nothing can justify the deliberate killing, wounding and kidnapping of civilians – or the firing of rockets at civilian targets. All hostages must be treated humanely and released immediately and unconditionally.”

Addressing the UN, the Secretary-General went on to say that the attack on Israel did not take place “in a vacuum” and followed “56 years of suffocating occupation” for the Palestinian people by Israel, adding that they “have seen their land steadily devoured by settlements, they are plagued by violence, their economy stifled, their people displaced and their homes demolished. Their hopes for a political solution to their plight have vanished.”

Israel’s ambassador to the UN, Gilad Erdan, said Guterres should resign, calling the speech “shocking”, saying it “views the carnage perpetrated by the Nazi Hamas terrorists in a distorted and immoral way”.