Sopuruchi Onwuka, with agency reports

The United Nations on Wednesday strongly condemned Iran’s ballistic missile attacks  on Israel, just as the world continues to show concerns over escalating military fireworks in the middle East where Iran backed HAMAS militant groups sparked a war with invasion of southern Israel on October 7, last year.

In a face saving statement at a meeting with the UN Security Council, Secretary General Antonio Guterres who has been officially banned from entering Israel because of his veiled support for Iran and Iran supported militants in the Middle East declared that it was high time to stop the “deadly cycle of tit-for-tat violence” in the Middle East.

In an earlier statement, Israel’s Foreign Minister Israel Katz declared Guterres persona non grata and an “anti-Israel secretary-general who lends support to terrorists.”

The angry comments from Israel came in response to Guterres’ initially calling for a ceasefire, but not specifically mentioning the Iran attack.

Addressing the council, the UN secretary general said he had condemned the attack in April, and “as should have been obvious yesterday in the context of the condemnation I expressed, I again strongly condemn yesterday’s massive missile attack by Iran on Israel.”

On Tuesday, Iran launched about 180 ballistic missiles into Israel, with Israel saying most of them were intercepted.

In a statement after the attack on social media site X, formerly Twitter, Guterres said he condemned “the broadening of the Middle East conflict with escalation after escalation.”

Prior to Guterres remarks to the UN Security Council, Katz said in a statement that anyone who “cannot unequivocally condemn Iran’s heinous attack on Israel does not deserve to step foot on Israeli soil.”

He specifically criticised Guterres for “his anti-Israel policy since the beginning of the war.”

Tuesday’s attack by Iran is the latest in a series of escalations, starting almost a year ago with attacks on Israel by Hamas, and recently involving increased fighting between Iran-backed Hezbollah and Israel.

Israel launched a military campaign in Gaza in response to the unprecedented attack on southern Israel on 7 October by Hamas gunmen, during which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 taken hostage.

Since the attack, a military campaign in Gaza has now killed a total of 41,689 people, and Iran has continuously stoked more violence by urging militants to attack Israel from Lebanon, Syria and Yemen. And Guterres run UN headquarters has never strongly condemned to the role of Iran in the conflicts which threaten to burn down the Middle East.

Over the course of the conflict, there have been a number of clashes between Israel and the United Nations about the situation in Gaza and the West Bank. There has also been friction between Israel and the UN over the role of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA

In January, Israel alleged that a number of the agency’s staff members had been involved in the 7 October attacks.

In response to this, the agency launched an investigation – with a number of its international funders withdrawing support for it, before later reinstating it. In August, nine staff members were dismissed over potential involvement in the attacks.

During the conflict, UNRWA has criticised Israel for air strikes in Gaza which have killed its staff members.

Angered by the obvious anti-Israel sentiments at the UN, the Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz announced in a statement posted to X on Wednesday: “Today, I have declared UN Secretary-General [António Guterres] persona non grata in Israel and banned him from entering the country.”

He added that the decision had been made for Guterres’ failure to “unequivocally condemn” Iran’s recent aerial bombardment of Israel, as well as the senior UN official being “yet to denounce the massacre and sexual atrocities committed by Hamas murderers on October 7.”

In response to ban on Guterres’ the United Nations on Wednesday stressed that the world body’s contacts with Israel will continue “because they have to.”

U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters that Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz deeming the U.N. chief “persona non grata” is also “one more attack on the United Nations staff that we’ve seen from the government of Israel.”

Israel’s accusations of U.N. bias and antisemitism date back decades, but the rift has intensified since Hamas’ Oct. 7 attacks in the country’s south killed about 1,200 people and launched the war in Gaza.