United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres has urged countries not to be intimidated by Israel’s threats to annex the occupied West Bank in response to growing calls for Palestinian statehood.
“We should not feel intimidated by the risk of retaliation,” Mr Guterres said in an interview with AFP at the UN headquarters in New York on Friday.
Israel’s devastating war on Gaza, as well as settlement expansion and increasing attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank, have sparked international outrage and a groundswell of support for a two-state solution to end decades of Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Ten countries, including Britain, France, Canada, Australia, Portugal and Belgium, are expected to formally recognise the Palestinian state in coming days as UN member states convene for the annual General Assembly. The meeting of more than 140 heads of state and government is likely to be dominated by the future of the Palestinians and the war in Gaza.
“People say the two-state solution is difficult,” Mr Guterres said. “But what is the alternative? A one-state solution in which millions of Palestinians will either be expelled or under a system of subjugation and discrimination without rights? Is that acceptable in the 21st century? I think it is not.
“With or without doing what we are doing, these actions would go on, and at least there is a chance to mobilise the international community to put pressure for them not to happen.”
Mr Guterres expressed horror at the situation in Gaza after nearly two years of war in the Palestinian enclave.
“What we are witnessing in Gaza is horrendous,” he said.
“It is the worst level of death and destruction that I've seen in my time as Secretary General, probably my life, and the suffering of the Palestinian people cannot be described – famine, total lack of effective health care, people living without adequate shelters in huge-concentration areas.”
Israel's actions during its military offensive in Gaza, which was launched after an attack on southern Israel led by the Hamas militant group on October 7, 2023, amount to genocide, according to a report released by a panel of independent UN experts.
The Israeli campaign is currently focused on seizing control of Gaza city. The military warned on Friday that it would operate with “unprecedented force” after intensifying attacks on the northern city in recent days. It ordered the city's estimated one million residents – about half of the territory's population – to leave and move south at the start of the operation.
About 480,000 people have already fled since the assault began last month, according to the Israeli military, despite concerns about a lack of space and infrastructure to support such a large influx, and the continuing Israeli attacks there.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed the war will end only with the defeat of Hamas, which killed about 1,200 people and took about 240 hostage during its October 2023 attack.
Mr Netanyahu said the Gaza city assault also aimed to recover about 50 hostages, of whom only about 20 are believed to be alive.
More than 65,000 Palestinians have been killed in the war, most of them women and children, and more than 156,000 injured, according to Gaza health authorities.
Palestinian media reported attacks across Gaza city on Saturday, including an air strike on a school near the Yarmouk Stadium that killed two children.
The official Wafa news agency said the Israeli army continued to bomb residential buildings in the city, while also attacking the Al Sabra neighbourhood in the north-west with drones, artillery fire and remotely operated vehicles packed with explosives.
Israeli warplanes also launched a series of raids on the Tel Al Hawa area in the city's south-west, while artillery targeted the northern areas of the Al Bureij refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip.
The specs
- Engine: 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8
- Power: 640hp
- Torque: 760nm
- On sale: 2026
- Price: Not announced yet
Gothia Cup 2025
4,872 matches
1,942 teams
116 pitches
76 nations
26 UAE teams
15 Lebanese teams
2 Kuwaiti teams
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
More on animal trafficking
Wicked: For Good
Director: Jon M Chu
Starring: Ariana Grande, Cynthia Erivo, Jonathan Bailey, Jeff Goldblum, Michelle Yeoh, Ethan Slater
Rating: 4/5
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The biog
Name: Atheja Ali Busaibah
Date of birth: 15 November, 1951
Favourite books: Ihsan Abdel Quddous books, such as “The Sun will Never Set”
Hobbies: Reading and writing poetry
Why seagrass matters
- Carbon sink: Seagrass sequesters carbon up to 35X faster than tropical rainforests
- Marine nursery: Crucial habitat for juvenile fish, crustations, and invertebrates
- Biodiversity: Support species like sea turtles, dugongs, and seabirds
- Coastal protection: Reduce erosion and improve water quality
THE SPECS
Engine: 1.5-litre turbocharged four-cylinder
Transmission: Constant Variable (CVT)
Power: 141bhp
Torque: 250Nm
Price: Dh64,500
On sale: Now
New UK refugee system
- A new “core protection” for refugees moving from permanent to a more basic, temporary protection
- Shortened leave to remain - refugees will receive 30 months instead of five years
- A longer path to settlement with no indefinite settled status until a refugee has spent 20 years in Britain
- To encourage refugees to integrate the government will encourage them to out of the core protection route wherever possible.
- Under core protection there will be no automatic right to family reunion
- Refugees will have a reduced right to public funds
THE DETAILS
Director: Milan Jhaveri
Producer: Emmay Entertainment and T-Series
Cast: John Abraham, Manoj Bajpayee
Rating: 2/5
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ESSENTIALS
The flights
Emirates flies direct from Dubai to Rio de Janeiro from Dh7,000 return including taxes. Avianca fliles from Rio to Cusco via Lima from $399 (Dhxx) return including taxes.
The trip
From US$1,830 per deluxe cabin, twin share, for the one-night Spirit of the Water itinerary and US$4,630 per deluxe cabin for the Peruvian Highlands itinerary, inclusive of meals, and beverages. Surcharges apply for some excursions.
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
Basquiat in Abu Dhabi
One of Basquiat’s paintings, the vibrant Cabra (1981–82), now hangs in Louvre Abu Dhabi temporarily, on loan from the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi.
The latter museum is not open physically, but has assembled a collection and puts together a series of events called Talking Art, such as this discussion, moderated by writer Chaedria LaBouvier.
It's something of a Basquiat season in Abu Dhabi at the moment. Last week, The Radiant Child, a documentary on Basquiat was shown at Manarat Al Saadiyat, and tonight (April 18) the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi is throwing the re-creation of a party tonight, of the legendary Canal Zone party thrown in 1979, which epitomised the collaborative scene of the time. It was at Canal Zone that Basquiat met prominent members of the art world and moved from unknown graffiti artist into someone in the spotlight.
“We’ve invited local resident arists, we’ll have spray cans at the ready,” says curator Maisa Al Qassemi of the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi.
Guggenheim Abu Dhabi's Canal Zone Remix is at Manarat Al Saadiyat, Thursday April 18, from 8pm. Free entry to all. Basquiat's Cabra is on view at Louvre Abu Dhabi until October
The specs: 2018 Nissan 370Z Nismo
The specs: 2018 Nissan 370Z Nismo
Price, base / as tested: Dh182,178
Engine: 3.7-litre V6
Power: 350hp @ 7,400rpm
Torque: 374Nm @ 5,200rpm
Transmission: Seven-speed automatic
Fuel consumption, combined: 10.5L / 100km
