“The situation is getting out of control,” he said. “It is teetering on the edge of the unimaginable.”

According to Al Jazeera, Guterres called for navigational rights around the Strait of Hormuz and Bab al-Mandeb to be fully restored, stressing “diplomacy is the only way forward.”

On Gaza, he said civilians still pay a heavy price despite the ceasefire, with killings continuing “as Israel increases its control of Gaza” and conditions remaining “intolerable”.

In the occupied West Bank, he warned of “creeping annexation”, violence and “large-scale displacement”, adding: “The region is being pulled into an ever-widening circle of confrontation.”

DID