UN chief warns Mideast on brink of ‘full-scale regional conflict’

United Nations – UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Thursday painted a dark picture of the situation in the Middle East, warning that spiraling tensions over the war in Gaza and Iran’s attack on Israel could devolve into a “full-scale regional conflict.”

Guterres also said Israel’s military offensive on Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip, in retaliation for their unprecedented October 7 attack, had created a “humanitarian hellscape” for civilians trapped in the besieged Palestinian territory.

His speech came hours before a vote in the Security Council on a Palestinian bid for full UN membership — an initiative likely to fail, as the veto-wielding United States, Israel’s main ally, has voiced its opposition. 

“The Middle East is on a precipice. Recent days have seen a perilous escalation — in words and deeds,” Guterres told a high-level Council meeting with several foreign ministers present, including from Jordan and Iran. 

“One miscalculation, one miscommunication, one mistake, could lead to the unthinkable — a full-scale regional conflict that would be devastating for all involved,” he said, calling on all parties to exercise “maximum restraint.”

“Let me be clear: the risks are spiraling on many fronts. We have a shared responsibility to address those risks and pull the region back from the precipice.”

Iran unleashed a barrage of missiles and drones on Israel over the weekend, after an attack on its consulate in Damascus widely blamed on Israel.

Israeli officials have not said when or where they would retaliate, but the country’s military chief has vowed a response.

“It is high time to end the bloody cycle of retaliation,” Guterres said. “It is high time to stop.” 

– ‘Humanitarian hellscape’ –

Guterres again called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, where at least 33,970 people have been killed, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory.

The militants’ October 7 attack resulted in the deaths of 1,170 people in southern Israel, mostly civilians, according to official Israeli figures. 

Hamas also took about 250 hostages. Israel estimates 129 of them remain in Gaza, including 34 who are presumed dead.

“In Gaza, six and a half months of Israeli military operations have created a humanitarian hellscape,” Guterres lamented, calling on Israel to do more to allow aid to flow into the territory.

– US veto? –

After the wider morning meeting, the Security Council is expected to vote at 5:00 pm (2100 GMT) on the Palestinian bid for full UN membership.

“Granting Palestine full membership at the United Nations will lift some of the historic injustice that succeeding Palestinian generations have been subjected to,” special Palestinian Authority envoy Ziad Abu Amr told the Council. 

“It will open wide prospects before a true peace based on justice.”

Any request to become a UN member state must first earn a recommendation from the Security Council — meaning at least nine positive votes out of 15, and no vetoes — and then be endorsed by a two-thirds majority of the General Assembly.

But the United States, Israel’s main ally, has not hesitated in the past to use its veto to protect Israel, and has not hidden its lack of enthusiasm for Palestinian UN membership — meaning the initiative appears doomed.

Washington believes the United Nations is not the venue for recognition of a Palestinian state, which must be the result of a peace deal with Israel.

Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas launched a membership application in 2011 but it never came before the Security Council for a vote. The General Assembly then voted to grant the Palestinians observer status in November 2012.

“I think a US veto is absolutely certain,” Richard Gowan of the International Crisis Group told AFP, adding that he expected an abstention from Britain, and possibly Japan and South Korea.

Israel’s UN envoy Gilad Erdan slammed the fact that the Council was even reviewing the matter as “immoral.”

“Membership in the United Nations is open to all peace-loving states. Peace-loving — what a joke,” Erdan said.