UNITED NATIONS, United States, May 17, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - Israel's UN ambassador Danny Danon said Friday he was "shocked" by comments made earlier this week by the world body's humanitarian chief about the situation in Gaza, calling them "deeply irresponsible."

On Tuesday, before the UN Security Council, Tom Fletcher said Israel was "deliberately and unashamedly imposing inhumane conditions on civilians in the Occupied Palestinian Territory."

"For those killed and those whose voices are silenced: what more evidence do you need now?" asked Fletcher, the under-secretary for humanitarian affairs.

"Will you act -- decisively -- to prevent genocide and to ensure respect for international humanitarian law?"

In a letter to Fletcher, made public by the Israeli mission, a furious Danon said he was "deeply shocked and disturbed" by the speech.

"You had the audacity, in your capacity as a senior UN official, to stand before the Security Council and invoke the charge of genocide without evidence, mandate, or restraint," Danon wrote.

"It was an utterly inappropriate and deeply irresponsible statement that shattered any notion of neutrality."

He accused Fletcher of offering the Council a "political sermon," not a briefing.

"To weaponize the word 'genocide' against Israel is not just distortion -- it is the desecration and subversion of a term with unique force and weight," Danon wrote, charging that those who use the term sought to "demonize" their targets.

Israel's already difficult relations with the United Nations have deteriorated since the unprecedented Hamas attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, and Israel's subsequent military offensive against the Palestinian militant group in the Gaza Strip.

Israeli authorities have cut ties with the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), which they accuse of being infiltrated by Hamas. And last October, UN Secretary Antonio Guterres was declared persona non grata in Israel.