The Secretary General of the UN, António Guterres, today called for the first time “an immediate humanitarian ceasefire” between Israel and Hamas, that it serves “to alleviate the human suffering (of) epic proportions” caused by the current war. On his X account (formerly Twitter), he added: “Too many lives, plus the fate of the entire region, hang in the balance.”

In recent days, Guterres has issued several statements calling for alleviating the suffering of civilians or facilitating the entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza, but he had not yet requested a ceasefire as such. Within the diplomatic balances at the UN, the expression has its importance because it also prevented last Monday the adoption of a recent resolution sponsored by Russia; Instead, today another one presented by Brazil will be voted on, in which the expression is chosen “humanitarian pauses.”

The ceasefire request, although addressed to all parties, is interpreted as a request to Israel, which together with its allies demands its “right to defend itself” after the terrorist attacks suffered on October 7 by militiamen of Hamas.

It has probably been the Gaza Al Ahli Hospital massacreafter a bombing that left 500 dead yesterday, which may have influenced the new position of Guterres, who yesterday also issued another statement in which he said he felt “horrified” by what happened.