United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres appealed to President Donald Trump on Wednesday to desist from any action that would result in ethnic cleansing in Gaza after the US leader proposed moving Palestinians and putting the enclave under American control.

“In the quest for solutions, we should not make things worse. It is crucial to hold on to the bedrock of international law. It is also important not to allow any ethnic cleansing,” Guterres told a UN committee. Though Guterres didn’t name Trump, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said that his comments were reacting to the suggestion.

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The UN has also been supporting the two-state solution and pushing for an independent Palestinian state living alongside Israel. “Any durable peace will require tangible, irreversible, and permanent progress toward the two-state solution,” emphasized Guterres.

Palestinian UN envoy Riyad Mansour rejected the idea of resettlement, declaring, “We have no country except Palestine. Gaza is a precious part of it. There is no power on earth that can remove the Palestinian people from our ancestral homeland.”

The war currently going on in Gaza has ravaged much of the area following Hamas’ attack of October 7, 2023 on Israel. In 2005, Israel pulled its troops out of Gaza, but the UN insists that the territory is still considered under Israeli occupation because of border control measures both Israel and Egypt have imposed.

Jordan’s King Abdullah, who met Guterres earlier, is expected to present a unified position from Arab states when he meets Trump in Washington next week. Palestinians have urged the international community to help rebuild Gaza rather than abandon it.

“A viable, sovereign Palestinian state living in peace and security with Israel is the only sustainable solution for Middle East stability,” Guterres said.