Family members of those held captive in Gaza have met with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in what Israeli media described as a tense encounter, Al Jazeera reports.

The group criticised Guterres for his past comments on the October 7 attack and for having failed to visit Israel since the start of the conflict.

The UN senior official came under fire by Israel for saying that the assault into southern Israel did “not happen in a vacuum”, referring to Israel’s decades-long occupation.

In response, Guterres stressed once again that there was no justification for the Hamas attack and that he made overtures for a visit to Israel, but that he did not receive a response from the Israeli government.