New York/Gaza, 21 November 2023 (dpa/MIA) - UN Secretary General António Guterres believes that the Gaza Strip should not become a United Nations protectorate after the end of the war.

"I do not think that a UN protectorate in Gaza is a solution," Guterres said at a press conference on Monday, according to a UN press release. Instead, he called for a transitional phase involving the US and Arab states.

"Everybody needs to come together to make the conditions for a transition, allowing for a strengthened Palestinian Authority, to assume responsibility in Gaza and then, based on that, to finally move... in a determined and irreversible way to a two-state solution based on the principles that have been largely established by the international community and which I have time and time again outlined," he said.

The Palestinian Islamist group Hamas seized power in the coastal region by force in 2007.

A two-state solution envisages an independent Palestinian state coexisting with Israel.

"I think we need a multi-stakeholder approach in which different countries, different entities, will cooperate," he said. "For Israel, of course, the US is the main guarantor of its security. For Palestinians, the neighbouring and Arab countries of the region are essential," explained the UN secretary general.

Photo: MIA archive