Israel accuses UN of appeasing Iran as ties plumb new lows

Israel's foreign minister on Thursday accused the United Nations of appeasing Iran in a post on X with a manipulated image depicting the UN chief bowing before Iran's supreme leader, signaling a new low for their relationship.

Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz chastised the body for not condemning Iran or Lebanon's Hezbollah after the Tehran-backed group launched an attack which killed an Israeli citizen and four foreign workers.

"UN Secretary-General @antonioguterres did not bother to condemn Hezbollah or call for sanctions against them. He is only busy attacking Israel and appeasing terrorist organizations and the Iranian axis of evil that calls for its destruction," Katz wrote.

"Guterres and the @UN have long lost their compass and conscience. We will continue to fight until all residents of the north can safely return to their homes."

Israel passed a law on Monday banning the UN Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA from operating in the country, in a move that could impact its work in Gaza as the humanitarian situation there continues to deteriorate.

In a speech at the General Assembly last month, prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu attacked the United Nations as an “antisemitic swamp” and an “anti-Israel Flat Earth Society”, maintaining Israel's right to confront Iran and its allies in the region.

Israel this month barred U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres from entering the country because it said he had not sufficiently condemned Iran's missile attack on Israel on October 1.

Fierce fighting

Meanwhile fighting continued to rage around Israel's northern border as a hoped-for ceasefire to fighting between Hezbollah and Israel failed to materialize.

The Israeli military made a rare statement saying it had hit "weapons storage facilities and command centers" belonging to Hezbollah’s elite Radwan Force and the group’s armament unit in the al-Qusayr area, close to Lebanon’s border with Syria.

According to Syrian state media, a number of civilians were wounded and material damage was caused by the Israeli strikes in Homs province.

Earlier in the day, the Hezbollah attack on northern Israel's Metula referred to by Katz killed five people, as Lebanon said Israeli strikes killed six health workers in the country's south.

US envoys and Israeli officials were due to meet in Israel on Thursday to discuss efforts towards a ceasefire in both Lebanon, where Israeli forces are battling Iran-backed Hezbollah, and in Gaza, where they are fighting Iran-backed Hamas.

The United States will help oversee a Hezbollah-Israel ceasefire by which UN forces and the Lebanese army replace the Iran-backed group in the south of the country, according to an unverified draft published by Israel's Channel 11.

Israel has been carrying out strikes against Iranian-linked targets in Syria for more than a decade as Iran has increased its presence since the Syrian civil war began in 2011.

Raids have also ramped up since last year's October 7 attack on Israel by Palestinian militant group Hamas sparked the Gaza war. Iranian-backed militants from Syria, along with countries such as Iraq and Yemen, have been acting against Israel since October 7, in allegiance with Hamas after its invasion of Israel.