UN warns against 'ethnic cleansing' in Gaza

UNITED NATIONS/WASHINGTON — It is vital to stay true to the bedrock of international law and "avoid any form of ethnic cleansing" in Gaza, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned on Wednesday.

At its essence, the exercise of the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people is about the right of Palestinians to simply live as human beings in their own land, Guterres told a UN committee meeting.

"We have seen the realization of those rights steadily slip farther out of reach. We have seen a chilling, systematic dehumanization and demonization of an entire people," he said at the 2025 session of the Committee on the Exercise of Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People.