Diplomatic friction erupts at the U.N. amid the Israel-Hamas conflict

Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen speaks during a Security Council meeting at United Nations headquarters on Tuesday.

Seth Wenig/AP

Israeli leaders fumed over United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’ comments at an emergency U.N. Security Council meeting to address the Mideast conflict — a diplomatic exchange that played out against the backdrop of deepening misery in Gaza.

At the Tuesday meeting in New York, Guterres said the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas that launched the current conflict “did not happen in a vacuum.”

In response, Gilad Erdan, Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, called for Guterres’ resignation, saying he is “not fit to lead the U.N.”

Erdan and Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen also said their country must “reassess” its relations with the United Nations.

In a post on X, the platform previously known as Twitter, Israel Defense Forces also poked at the U.N. agency that oversees humanitarian support in the Palestinian territories, which warned its fuel stocks would run out Wednesday night, leaving it incapable of providing aid.

In Guterres’ speech Tuesday, he pleaded with other countries to step up humanitarian aid and to help ensure the conflict doesn’t spread to other countries.

His pleas came as staggering numbers from the conflict emerged for another day: thousands dead, even more injured. Roughly 1.4 million people — 60% of Gaza’s population — had left their homes, but remained trapped in the territory. Relief sites overflowed; at one, 400 people shared a single toilet. Hospitals designed for hundreds of patients found themselves treating thousands.

The World Health…