“In the search for solutions, we must not make the problem worse," said Antonio Guterres Deporting people from occupied territory was ‘strictly prohibited’, adds UN rights chief UNITED NATIONS: United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told President Donald Trump on Wednesday to avoid ethnic cleansing in Gaza after the US leader proposed Palestinians resettle elsewhere and the United States take over the war-torn enclave. “In the search for solutions, we must not make the problem worse. It is vital to stay true to the bedrock of international law. It is essential to avoid any form of ethnic cleansing,” Guterres told a previously planned meeting of a UN committee. “We must reaffirm the two-state solution,” he said. Earlier in Geneva, UN rights chief Volker Turk warned that deporting people from occupied territory was strictly prohibited. “The right to self-determination is a fundamental principle of international law and must be protected by all states, as the International Court of Justice recently underlined afresh. Any forcible transfer in or deportation of people from occupied territory is strictly prohibited,” Turk said in a statement. While Guterres did not mention Trump or his Gaza proposal during his address to the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, his spokesperson Stephane Dujarric told reporters earlier that it would be a “fair assumption” to view Guterres’ remarks as a response. Earlier on Wednesday Guterres also spoke with Jordan’s King Abdullah about the situation in the region, said Dujarric. The United Nations has long endorsed a vision of two states living side by side within secure and recognized borders. Palestinians want a state in the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza Strip, all territory captured by Israel in a 1967 war with neighboring Arab states. “Any durable peace will require tangible, irreversible and permanent progress toward the two-state solution, an end to the occupation and the establishment of an independent Palestinian state, with Gaza as an integral part,” Guterres said. “A viable, sovereign Palestinian state living side-by-side in peace and security with Israel is the only sustainable solution for Middle East stability,” he said. Israel withdrew soldiers and settlers from Gaza in 2005. The territory has been ruled by Hamas since 2007 but is still considered to be under Israeli occupation by the United Nations. Israel and Egypt control access. A deadly attack by Hamas militants on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, set off a war that has since laid most of the territory to waste. A deal on a ceasefire and the release of hostages held by Hamas went into force on Jan. 19.