UN chief hails Hamas disarmament deal as rare good news

A deal meant to see the disarmament of Palestinian militant group Hamas is a rare piece of good news for the Middle East, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Friday.

Referring to nearly six months of US war against Iran -- and growing regional spillover -- Guterres said the Hamas deal announced late Thursday was an outlier.

"The only good news in recent days is the announcement by the US president of an agreement for Hamas to relinquish their weapons and for Israel to withdraw its forces from Gaza," he said.

"Let me be clear: the fighting must stop on all fronts in the region," he said. "We are now six months into the military escalation in the Gulf. What began as a regional conflict is increasingly becoming a driver of global instability."