Permanent Israeli representative to the United Nations, Danny Danon, is demanding Secretary-General Antonio Guterres either retract the statement he made in front of the U.N. Security Council on Tuesday or resign.

Guterres condemned the Hamas terrorist attacks on Israel Oct. 7, but also criticized Israel's "occupation" of Gaza and warned against the "collective punishment" against the Palestinians in Gaza.

"It is important to also recognize the attacks by Hamas did not happen in a vacuum. The Palestinian people have been subjected to 56 years of suffocating occupation," Guterres said in his statement to the council. "They have seen their land steadily devoured by settlements and plagued by violence; their economy stifled; their people displaced, and their homes demolished.

"Their hopes for a political solution to their plight have been vanishing. But the grievances of the Palestinian people cannot justify the appalling attacks by Hamas. And those appalling attacks cannot justify the collective punishment of the Palestinian people."

He went on to say that Israel's "relentless bombardment of Gaza" in response to the attacks that killed more than 1,300 Israelis and others, is resulting in "civilian casualties, and the wholesale destruction of neighborhoods continues to mount and are deeply alarming."

Guterres also criticized Israel for ordering the evacuation of 1 million Palestinians from the Gaza Strip without the items necessary for survival.

"Protecting civilians does not mean ordering more than 1 million people to evacuate to the south, where there is no shelter, no food, no water, no medicine and no fuel, and then continuing to bomb the south itself," he said. "I am deeply concerned about the clear violations of international humanitarian law that we are witnessing in Gaza. Let me be clear: No party to an armed conflict is above international humanitarian law."

The remarks sparked outrage and backlash from Israeli representatives and officials.

"The UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres today said that the horrific crimes of the Hamas terrorists 'did not take place in a vacuum,' " Danon said in a statement. "By saying this he is wrongfully legitimizing and justifying the gruesome massacre of men, women, children and babies, and the savage kidnapping of over 222 innocent babies, children and civilians who are still being held by Hamas. The UN Secretary General should be ashamed of himself. I call upon him to retract his abhorrent statement or step down now and resign from his position."

One U.N. Israeli envoy, Gilad Erdan, told the Times of Israel that the remarks by Guterres were "shocking," "horrible," and "totally detached from the reality of our region."

"His comments … constitute a justification for terrorism and murder," Erdan says. "It's sad that a person with such views is the head of an organization that arose after the Holocaust."

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