Tel Aviv, Dec 7 (IANS): Israel's Ambassador to the United Nations Gilad Erdan on Thursday alleged that Secretary General Antonio Guterres was playing into the hands of Hamas and reiterated the demand for his immediate resignation.

Erdan was responding to the UN Secretary-General's appeal to the Security Council to call for a humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza. "Today, the Secretary-General has reached a new moral low," he said in a statement.

He said that he is activating, "for the first time," Article 99 of the UN Charter in relation to the Israel-Hamas war, an article that can only be invoked in a situation where international peace and security are threatened.

Gilad Ergan said that the Secretary-General decided to activate this rare clause only when it allows him to put pressure on Israel, which was fighting the Nazi Hamas terrorists.

He said that this was more proof of the Secretary-General's moral distortion and his bias against Israel. Ergan said, "The Secretary-General's call for a ceasefire is actually a call to keep Hamas' reign of terror in Gaza."

"Instead of the Secretary-General explicitly pointing to Hamas' responsibility for the situation and calling on the terrorist leaders to turn themselves in and return the hostages, thus ending the war, the Secretary-General chooses to continue playing into Hamas' hands."

The Israel Ambassador to the United Nations said, "The distorted positions of the Secretary-General only prolong the fighting in Gaza, because they give hope to the Hamas terrorists that the war will be stopped and they will be able to survive".

He said that the UN needs a Secretary-General who supports the war on terror, not a Secretary-General who acts according to the script written by Hamas.