Gaza deaths show ‘something is wrong with Israel operation’: UN chief

United Nations secretary-general Antonio Guterres told Reuters Next that the number of civilians killed in the Gaza Strip shows that there is something "clearly wrong" with Israel's military operations in Gaza. This comes as Hamas accused the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees of "colluding" with Israel in the "forced displacement" of residents of Gaza.

"It is also important to make Israel understand that it is against the interests of Israel to see every day the terrible image of the dramatic humanitarian needs of the Palestinian people," he said.

“That doesn't help Israel in relation to the global public opinion,” he asserted.

Comparing the number of children being killed in Gaza with the toll in conflicts around the world, he said, “Every year, the highest number of killings of children by any of the actors in all the conflicts that we witness is the maximum in the hundreds. We have in a few days in Gaza thousands and thousands of children killed, which means there is also something clearly wrong in the way military operations are being done.”

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"UNRWA and its officials bear responsibility for this humanitarian catastrophe, in particular the residents of the Gaza (City) area and north of it" who are following Israeli military orders to flee south, Salama Maruf, head of the media bureau of Gaza rulers Hamas, said as per news agency AFP.

Israel has told Palestinians in the north to move south as it battles Hamas in Gaza City. The UN previously said 1.5 million of the 2.4 million people living in Gaza have been displaced by the war which started on October 7. Fighting began after Hamas spilled into southern Israel, killing 1,400 people, mostly civilians. The health ministry in Gaza said that the war has killed more than 10,500 people, also mostly civilians.