Hey folks! UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres just dropped a major call at the Tokyo International Conference on African Development: stop the fighting in Gaza, ASAP. With Israel gearing up to take over Gaza City, Guterres warned that the operation could lead to massive destruction and loss of life 😥.
On top of that, he slammed Israel’s Higher Planning Committee for greenlighting 3,401 housing units in the E1 area of the occupied West Bank. That’s a huge move that breaches international law and risks splitting the West Bank—and the occupied Palestinian Territory—dangling peace efforts in the wind 🕊️.
What’s E1? Picture a stretch of land east of Jerusalem. Building here would connect settlements and effectively cut off the North from the South of the West Bank, making any two-State solution way more difficult to pull off 🌍✂️.
“It is vital to reach immediately a ceasefire in Gaza … to avoid the death and destruction that a military operation against Gaza City would inevitably cause,” Guterres stressed. He also noted that the new settlements are “an existential threat to the two-State solution.”
Bottom line: at a time when our region’s youth are driving tech innovation and social change, these developments remind us how critical it is to stay informed and push for peace. Share, discuss, and let your voice be heard—because global peace impacts us all 🌐✊.
Reference(s):
UN chief urges ceasefire in Gaza, condemns new West Bank settlements
cgtn.com
