Mahmoud Abbas, president of the State of Palestine, addressed the UN General Assembly on Thursday, declaring that his people were enduring a “war of genocide, destruction, starvation and displacement” at the hands of Israel’s military in Gaza.

Speaking via video, he said more than 220,000 Palestinians had been killed or injured over nearly two years of fighting – most of them women, children, and the elderly, while two million people were facing starvation under blockade.

More than 80 per cent of Gaza’s homes, schools, hospitals, churches, mosques, and infrastructure had been destroyed, he added.

“What Israel is carrying out is not merely an aggression, it is a war crime and a crime against humanity,”  Abbas said, describing it as “one of the most horrific chapters of humanitarian tragedy in the 20th and 21st centuries”.

He also highlighted escalating settler violence and settlement expansion in the West Bank, including the “Greater Israel” strategy to expand Israeli territory, which he said threatened to “divide the West Bank”, “isolate occupied Jerusalem”, and “undermine the two-state solution”.

Religious sites across Jerusalem, Hebron, and Gaza had not been spared, he noted, citing attacks on mosques, churches, and cemeteries.

Mr Abbas condemned the October 7, 202,3, Hamas attack on Israeli civilians, saying those actions “do not represent the Palestinian people, nor their just struggle for freedom and independence”.

He stressed that Gaza was an integral part of the Palestinian state and that the Palestinian Authority was prepared to take full responsibility for governance and security there, based on “one state, one law and one legal security force”.

“We do not want an armed state,” he told world leaders, outlining a vision of a “modern and democratic” Palestine based on the rule of law, peaceful transition of power, and respect for human rights, youth, and women’s empowerment.

Turning to the international community, President Abbas lamented that more than 1,000 UN resolutions on Palestine remained unimplemented, despite Palestinian leaders embracing peace agreements and recognizing Israel since the Oslo Accords in 1993.

Israel, he said, had “systematically” undermined those accords while Palestinians adhered to their commitments, including rejecting violence and restructuring national institutions.

He welcomed the outcomes of a high-level conference in New York earlier this week, co-chaired by France and Saudi Arabia, and expressed gratitude to the growing number of countries recognizing Palestine, urging others to follow suit and support full UN membership.

He said Palestine is ready to work with the United States, Saudi Arabia, France, the United Nations, and all partners to implement the peace plan adopted this week, adding that “peace cannot be achieved if justice is not achieved, and there can be no justice if Palestine is not freed”.

Palestinians will never abandon their homeland or their rights, he said.

“No matter how long the suffering lasts, it will not break our will to live and survive,” Mr Abbas said. “The dawn of freedom will emerge, and the flag of Palestine will fly high in our skies as a symbol of dignity and steadfastness.”

(NAN)