NEW YORK: UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned on Wednesday that the world is entering in the age of chaos with a widely divided Security Council unable to address critical issues such as the Israel-Hamas conflict.
As the war in Gaza entering its fifth month, Guterres said that if the Israeli armed forces continue offensive in the southern city of Rafah, it will increase a humanitarian crisis with untold regional consequences.
Israeli forces, in their campaign to wipe-out Hamas after October 7, have bombed relentlessly the Gaza Strip and carried out a ground invasion, displacing over a million people.
Guterres during a speech to the General Assembly presenting his 2024 priorities said it is time for an urgent humanitarian ceasefire and the unconditional release of all hostages.
He stressed for changes in the United Nations Security Council and global financial system, among other reforms.
He said the Security Council, the primary platform for global peace, is deadlocked by geopolitical gaps.
Global body is divided
Guterres noted this is not the first time the global body has been divided, but it is the worst.
He went on to say that during the Cold War, well-established mechanisms helped manage superpower ties but today those mechanisms are missing.
He warned that the world is entering in an age of chaos.
His statement comes amid dangerous conflicts in Ukraine, Sudan, the Middle East and elsewhere, with millions of people displaced by the fighting and need of aid.
Guterres said as conflicts continue global humanitarian needs are at an all-time high, but funding is not sufficient top address their needs.
He called for the development of an emergency platform to improve the global response to complex shocks.
