UN Secretary-General Guterres Calls October 7 'Abhorrent' at UNGA, Then Condemns Israel's Gaza Campaign as Unprecedented in Scale

UN Secretary-General António Guterres, addressing the opening of the General Debate of the 81st UN General Assembly session in New York on Tuesday, September 22, 2026, said it is 'nearly three years since the abhorrent terror attacks by Hamas on 7 October,' but that what followed was 'an onslaught on Palestinians in Gaza' with 'a scale of killing and destruction' he had not witnessed in all his years as Secretary-General. Guterres also warned that Israeli violence, displacement and settlement expansion in the occupied West Bank were 'bulldozing the path to peace' and raising the 'spectre of ethnic cleansing,' and cited the International Court of Justice's provisional measures in the genocide case against Israel, saying all parties must comply with the Court's orders. The remarks came on the first day of the annual General Debate, days ahead of the third anniversary of the October 7 attack, and drew immediate pushback from the Israeli delegation, which had earlier walked out of the hall during other leaders' remarks.