HAMILTON, Canada

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Monday condemned the latest killing of aid seekers in the Gaza Strip.

"Over the weekend in Gaza, we saw yet more mass shootings and killings of people seeking UN aid for their families, an atrocious and inhumane act, which I utterly condemned," Guterres said at the High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development.

Noting the "deep linkages between development and peace," Guterres said: "We meet against the backdrop of global conflicts that are pushing the Sustainable Development Goals further out of reach."

"That is why we must keep working for peace in the Middle East," he added.

Highlighting the situation in Gaza, Guterres stressed that "we need an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, the immediate release of all hostages."

He further called for the "unimpeded humanitarian access" to Gaza.

According to the Gaza Health Ministry, 86 people—including 76 children—have died from hunger and dehydration since October 2023. Gaza’s Government Media Office warned the strip is "on the brink of mass death" after over 140 days of a near-total closure of all crossings.

Guterres also stressed the need for the ceasefire between Iran and Israel to hold and a "just and lasting peace in Ukraine."

"We need an end to the horror and bloodshed in Sudan," he said, also highlighting the conflicts from the Democratic Republic of Congo to Somalia, from Sahel to Myanmar.

Since October 2023, the Israeli army has killed nearly 59,000 Palestinians, most of them women and children, in Gaza. The relentless bombing has destroyed the enclave, nearly collapsed its health system, and created famine-like conditions.

Last November, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice over its war on the enclave.