Guterres welcomes international pledges to recognize the State of Palestine.

September 23, 2025 (PEN) - In his address to the high-level international conference on the peaceful settlement of the Palestinian issue and the realization of the two-state solution, held at UN Headquarters in New York under the chairmanship of Saudi Arabia and France, UN Secretary-General António Guterres welcomed the measures taken by UN Member States to mobilize support for the two-state solution, including the pledge to recognize the State of Palestine.

"There can be no justification for collective punishment of the Palestinian people or any form of ethnic cleansing," Guterres said.

He pointed to the starvation of the population in Gaza and the killing of tens of thousands of civilians, most of them women and children, and hundreds of UN humanitarian workers. He called for an immediate and permanent ceasefire, the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages, and the guarantee of immediate, full, safe, and unconditional humanitarian access.

He emphasized that the establishment of a Palestinian state is a right, not a reward, and that rejecting it would be a gift to extremists everywhere. He warned that "without two states, peace will not be achieved in the Middle East, and extremism will spread throughout the world," urging all countries to make every effort to ensure the two-state solution prevails.