The United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has invoked Article 99 of the UN Charter, urging the UN Security Council to act on the war in Gaza.
The rare move on Wednesday comes as the 15-member Security Council is yet to adopt a resolution calling for a ceasefire between Israel, Hamas and their allies.
Article 99 allows the secretary-general to “bring to the attention of the Security Council any matter which in his opinion may threaten the maintenance of international peace and security”.
It warned that the situation in Gaza is catastrophic and close to irreversible, adding: “We cannot wait.”
In response to Guterres’s letter, Security Council member the United Arab Emirates posted on X to say it had submitted a new draft resolution to the council, and “called for a humanitarian ceasefire resolution to be adopted urgently”.
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China, Russia, the US, the UK and France – hold veto power.
The US used that veto on October 18 against a resolution that would have condemned Hamas’s attack on Israel while calling for a pause in the fighting to allow humanitarian assistance into Gaza.
