UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he regrets the Security Council’s failure to demand a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, condemning the divisions that have “paralysed” the world body, AFP reports.

Addressing Qatar’s Doha Forum, Guterres said the council was “paralysed by geostrategic divisions” that were undermining solutions to Israel’s bombardment of Gaza.

The body’s “authority and credibility were severely undermined” by its delayed response to the conflict, he said two days after a US veto prevented a resolution calling for a Gaza ceasefire.

“I reiterated my appeal for a humanitarian ceasefire to be declared,” he told the forum. “Regrettably, the Security Council failed to do it,” he added.

“I can promise, I will not give up,” he said. “We are facing a severe risk of collapse of the humanitarian system,” Guterres told the Doha Forum.