IT has been a year since several groups of Palestinian militants attacks Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, taking scores of hostages and killing hundreds. The attack sparked serious retaliation from that country, leading to the devastating war in Gaza that has now engulfed even Lebanon, the Houthis in Yemen, and their political and financial backers in Iran.
United Nations (UN) Secretary General Antonio Guterres, in an anniversary statement, denounced Hamas and called for an immediate end to the “shocking violence and bloodshed” in Gaza and Lebanon.
Leaders of many nations, big and small, have been using diplomacy to try to convince both parties in the Israel-Hamas conflict to talk peace and negotiate, but to no avail.
When the group of Palestinian militants attacked the citizens of Israel while they were having a dance and boisterous merrymaking, everybody expected fierce retaliation from Israel, but only a few thought that it would get to be so serious that the conflict would extend for a year.
`The United Nations, especially the key members of the UN Security Council, and other international organizations should scale up their efforts at seeking a solution to the conflict in Gaza, Israel, Lebanon and Iran.’
But this week marks one year since the devastating assault on Israel that sparked the ongoing war in Gaza, with Lebanon now also pulled into the fray and world leaders warning of a potential all-out regional crisis.
“This is a day for the global community to repeat in the loudest voice our utter condemnation of the abhorrent acts of Hamas, including the taking of hostages,” said Guterres, a key official of the international peacekeeping organization whose ultimate objective is a peaceful global community would need to address both contending parties.
While demanding the hostages’ “immediate and unconditional release,” the UN secretary general also implored Hamas to allow the hostages to be visited by Red Cross personnel.
Hamas militants abducted 251 people on October 7, 2023, with 97 of them still in captivity in Gaza, including 33 persons the Israeli military has said are dead.
Guterres’ fear that the conflict would engulf Lebanon has come true, and days before the anniversary, Israel pounded the Hamas-allied group Hezbollah, killing over a thousand people and forcing more than a million to flee their homes.
“The war that has followed the terrible attacks of one year ago continues to shatter lives and inflict profound human suffering for Palestinians in Gaza, and now the people of Lebanon,” Guterres said.
The October 7 attack on Israel resulted in the deaths of more than 1,200 people, mostly civilians.
Israel’s retaliatory offensive on Gaza has so far killed at least 41,825 people, a majority of them civilians, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run Palestinian territory.
The United Nations, especially the key members of the UN Security Council, and other international organizations should scale up their efforts at seeking a solution to the conflict in Gaza, Israel, Lebanon and Iran. Perhaps other influential Muslim states can join the narrative and discussions on how to attain peace, however temporary.
