New York, 28 July 2025 (dpa/MIA) - UN Secretary General António Guterres believes the peace process between Israel and Palestinians is close to collapsing and that a two-state solution is a more distant prospect than ever before.

"The truth is: we are at a breaking point," Guterres said at the opening of a conference on Monday organized by Saudi Arabia and France on Middle East peace.

"The two-state solution is farther than ever before," he added, referring to a solution which would see Israel coexist alongside a Palestinian state.

However, the UN chief believes the conflict would be solvable if there were political will and courageous leadership, which he says is not evident.

Guterres said "nothing can justify the horrific" attacks by the Palestinian Islamist Hamas militia against Israel on October 7, 2023. But, he said, what has happened since cannot be justified either.

The Hamas-led attacks resulted in the killing of around 1,200 people in Israel and the abduction of some 250 hostages into the Gaza Strip, and triggered the current Gaza war.

"Nothing can justify the obliteration of Gaza that has unfolded before the eyes of the world," Guterres said.

He cited "the starvation of the population, the killing of tens of thousands of civilians, the further fragmentation of the Occupied Palestinian Territory, the relentless expansion of settlements, the surge in settler violence against Palestinians, the demolition of homes and forced displacement of populations."

"It must stop," he said.

French President Emmanuel Macron announced announced last week that France intends to recognize Palestine as a state later this year.

Progress at the conference is not expected, given the escalation in the Middle East and the fact that Israel and its closest ally, the United States, are not participating.

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