United Nations, United States:

The UN special coordinator for Middle East peace warned on Tuesday that the region is at “the most dangerous juncture” in decades as the war between Israel and Iran-backed groups risks escalating into a wider conflict.

“We have entered the second year of this terrible conflict and the region is on the brink of another serious escalation,” Tor Wennesland told the Security Council.

His remarks came just days after Israel launched airstrikes on military sites in Iran in response to Tehran’s October 1 missile attack; This attack was itself a retaliation for the killing of Iranian-backed militant leaders and the commander of the Revolutionary Guard.

“Every effort must be made by all of us to de-escalate the situation and create a different path towards greater peace and stability in the region.” he said.

More than a year after Hamas’s unprecedented attack on Israel on October 7 triggered a devastating war in Gaza that has now extended to Lebanon, lethal violence “shows no signs of abating,” Wennesland said.

“We are witnessing not only a terrible humanitarian nightmare, but also the rapidly emerging possibility of finding a sustainable solution to this conflict.”

He said he visited Gaza last week, where he saw “the magnitude of the devastation this war has inflicted on the people.”

“I saw the tremendous destruction of residential buildings, roads, hospitals and schools. As winter approached, I saw thousands of people living in makeshift tents with nowhere else to go.”

Israel’s retaliatory strike has killed at least 43,020 Palestinians, mostly civilians, in Gaza, triggering warnings of a humanitarian disaster, according to figures from the Hamas-run region’s health ministry that the United Nations considers reliable.

In the October 7 attack, Palestinian militants took 251 people hostage, including soldiers and civilians, and 97 of them are still in Gaza. The Israeli army says 34 of them died.

The attack resulted in the deaths of 1,206 people, mostly civilians, according to AFP official Israeli figures.

At least 1,700 people have been killed in Lebanon since September 23, when fighting escalated as Israel launched air and ground attacks against Hezbollah, which launched rocket attacks in support of Hezbollah, according to an AFP tally based on official figures. It is Hamas.

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