UNITED NATIONS, Aug 9: Secretary General Kofi Annan on Wednesday decried the ‘continued killing and injuring of hundreds of civilians including children in Gaza by the Israeli forces’ calling it ‘utterly unjustifiable’.

In a statement on the situation in the occupied Palestinian territory, the UN chief said he was ‘greatly concerned that the tragic events in Lebanon and northern Israel should not distract from the urgent need to work towards a solution to the current crisis’.

He said that the situation in Palestine ‘is a cause of particular concern, since it further undermines the Palestinian institutions which must be preserved if a two-state solution is to be achieved’.