'Time to stop the suffering': UN chief appeals for peace ahead of Gaza war anniversary

By Servet Gunerigok

WASHINGTON (AA) - UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres issued an appeal Saturday for peace ahead of the one-year mark of the war in Gaza next week.

"The 7th of October is naturally a day to focus on the events of that awful day. I express my solidarity with all the victims and their loved ones," Guterres said in a video message.

He said the attack by the Palestinian resistance group, Hamas, on that day "scarred souls" and he remembers all those who were killed and suffered "unspeakable violence.”

"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," he said.

The UN chief noted that a wave of shocking violence and bloodshed has erupted since Oct. 7.

"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," he said. "It is time for the release of the hostages. Time to silence the guns. Time to stop the suffering that has engulfed the region. Time for peace, international law and justice.”

He also called for a lasting solution to the conflict to allow Israel, Palestine and all other countries in the region to live in peace and dignity and with respect for one another.

Flouting a UN Security Council resolution calling for an immediate cease-fire, Israel has continued a relentless offensive on Gaza following an attack by Hamas last October.

More than 41,800 victims have been killed, most of them women and children, in the year since, and nearly 97,000 others injured, according to local health authorities.

The Israeli onslaught has displaced almost the entire population of the territory amid an ongoing blockade that has led to severe shortages of food, clean water and medicine.

Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its actions in Gaza.​​​​​​​

*Serife Cetin in New York contributed to the story