CORRECTS - Former Israeli envoy says UN building ‘should be wiped off face of earth’

CLARIFIES STATUS OF GILAD ERDAN AS FORMER UN AMBASSADOR, AS OF THIS MONDAY; REVISES HEADLINE, DECK

By Abdelraouf Arnaout

JERUSALEM (AA) – Just after ending his tenure as his nation's ambassador to the UN, Israeli diplomat Gilad Erdan said the United Nations headquarters in New York should be “wiped off the face of the earth.”

“The UN building should be closed and wiped off from the face of the earth,” Erdan told Israeli daily Maariv in an interview published Tuesday.

“This building, which may look nice from the outside, is actually twisted and distorted,” said Erdan, whose successor, Danny Ben Yosef Danon, just took over on Monday.

On his future plans, Erdan said he sees himself leading the right-wing Likud Party after controversial Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

This was not the first time Erdan has attacked the UN.

He previously criticized UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and the UN agency for Palestine refugees (UNRWA).

Israel has faced international condemnations over its brutal offensive on the Gaza Strip despite a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire.

The Israeli onslaught has since killed over 40,170 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and injured more than 92,740, according to local health authorities.

More than 10 months into the Israeli onslaught, vast tracts of Gaza lie in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water, and medicine.

Israel is accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, which ordered it to immediately halt its military operation in the southern city of Rafah, where more than 1 million Palestinians had sought refuge from the war before it was invaded on May 6.

*Writing by Rania Abu Shamala