The United Nations (UN) Secretary General Antonio Guterres has postponed his planned visit to Nepal, citing the war that broke out between the Hamas Group of Palestine and Israel.

Sewa Lamsal, spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, informed that the visit of Guterres has been deferred due to the ongoing war in the Middle East. The UN Secretary General was scheduled to arrive in Nepal on October 13.

Hamas has launched a strike over Israel since Saturday. Around 1,600 people are reported to have been killed in the crossfire over the period.

During his three-day visit to Nepal, Guterres was scheduled to address the Federal Parliament of Nepal. He was also supposed to visit Lumbini and Pokhara.

Earlier, Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal during his visit to New York to attend the 78th United Nations General Assembly had invited the UN Secretary General to visit Nepal.

Apart from Trygve Lie and Dag Hammarskjold, the first and the second UN secretaries general, six former UN secretaries general have visited Nepal in the past.