UN “strongly” rejects any change in border between Gaza and Israel

MADRID, December 10 (EUROPA PRESS) –

The United Nations on Tuesday expressed its “firm” opposition to any change in the territorial boundaries of the Gaza Strip and Israel, after that country’s army chief declared a few days ago the “yellow line”, which demarcates the forward positions of the Israeli army inside the Palestinian enclave, as a “new border”.

“It seems to me that this goes against the spirit and the letter of (US President Donald) Trump, and we strongly oppose any change to the borders of Gaza and Israel,” said the spokesperson for the UN secretary general, Stéphane Dujarric, at a press conference.

In this sense, he defended that the multilateral organization will continue to refer to the Gaza Strip as the entire original territory and not exclusively to that which is inside the “yellow line”.

Guterres’ spokesperson responded to General Eyal Zamir, who declared last Sunday during a visit to Israeli positions in Beit Hanun and Jabalia that “the yellow line is a new border, an advanced offensive and defensive front for our communities.”

Shortly before these remarks, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared in front of German Chancellor Friedrich Merz the imminent start of phase 2 of the ceasefire with the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) and which envisages the gradual withdrawal of Israeli forces.

Asked about this and the role of the UN in this second phase, Dujarric denied participating “directly in the negotiations and debates” on his candidacy, while reiterating that they remained “very committed to the parties concerned”.

He further confirmed conversations between Guterres and Qatari authorities in Doha as well as a meeting in Jerusalem between US Ambassador Mike Waltz and the UN deputy special coordinator for the peace process, Ramiz Alakbarov.