Tensions between Israel and the United Nations are heightened after a series of comments about Hamas led to U.N. visas being denied.<\/p>\n
U.N. Secretary-General Ant\u00f3nio Guterres said Tuesday during a meeting of the Security Council the terrorist attacks against Israel Oct. 7 \u2018did not happen in a vacuum.\u2019<\/p>\n
Supporters of Israel took offense to the assertion, and critics claimed the U.N. was blaming the Jewish state for the slaughter of its own civilians by Hamas.<\/p>\n
The Israeli government immediately demanded Guterres resign and further escalated the feud by denying visas to U.N. officials.<\/p>\n
\u2018We will refuse to grant visas to U.N. representatives,\u2019 said Israeli U.N. Ambassador Gilad Erdan. \u2018We have already refused to give one to Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Martin Griffiths.<\/p>\n
\u2018It\u2019s time to teach them a lesson.\u2019<\/p>\n
Erdan, who described Guterres\u2019 remarks as \u2018shocking\u2019 before calling for his resignation, doubled down Wednesday on his call for Guterres to step down.<\/p>\n
\u2018It is a disgrace to the U.N. that the secretary-general does not retract his words and is not even able to apologize for what he said yesterday. He must resign,\u2019 Erdan said Wednesday in a statement.<\/p>\n
Over the 19 days of war since Oct. 7, the Hamas-run Health Ministry claims at least 5,791 Palestinians have been killed and 16,297 wounded.\u00a0<\/p>\n
More than 1,400 Israelis were killed in the Oct. 7 surprise attack by Hamas, and 222 Israelis and foreigners were taken captive in Gaza.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Four people have been released so far.<\/p>\n
Fox News Digital\u2019s Anders Hagstrom contributed to this report.<\/p>\n