Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas told the United Nations General Assembly on Thursday that Palestinians in Gaza are facing a “genocidal war,” accusing Israeli forces of killing, destruction, starvation and attempts at displacement.
Watch Abbas’ address in the video player above.
Abbas made the prerecorded remarks from his office in Ramallah after the United States denied him and other top Palestinian officials visas to attend the gathering for the second year in a row.
WATCH LIVE: Day 3 of the 2026 United Nations General Assembly
In his address, the 90-year-old Palestinian leader described the situation in Gaza as an “unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe.”
Abbas also accused Israeli settlers of escalating violence and settlement expansion in the occupied West Bank, saying the territory was being fragmented and East Jerusalem isolated.
“What is taking place in Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem are not isolated incidents but rather a malicious colonial scheme aimed at making the lives of Palestinians more difficult in their homeland and forcing them to leave it,” he said.
Abbas said the Palestinian leadership had welcomed President Donald Trump’s 20-point plan and a U.N. Security Council resolution and roadmap for its implementation, but said none of it had materialized on the ground.
