TEHRAN, Nov. 20 (MNA) – United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is playing politics by refusing to condemn Israeli strikes on civilian targets in the Gaza Strip, Russian Permanent Representative to the UN Vasily Nebenzya said.

The political motivation behind the [UN] secretary general’s decision was clear to everyone amid the Israeli military’s ruthless and indiscriminate strikes on Gaza’s residential areas, which have already killed thousands of children, he said, addressing a meeting of the Russian State Duma (the lower house of parliament) commission.

"Still, the secretary general is in no hurry to label Israel as a violator of rules and blacklist it," Nebenzya pointed out, TASS reported.

The Israeli regime waged the brutal war on the blockaded Gaza Strip on October 7 after the Palestinian Resistance movement Hamas launched Operation Al-Aqsa Storm against the occupying entity.

Since the start of the aggression, the Tel Aviv regime has killed and injured thousands of Palestinians. It has also imposed a “complete siege” on the coastal sliver, cutting off fuel, electricity, food, and water to the more than two million Palestinians living there.

MP/PR