Palestinian President Abbas urges UN to stop war in Gaza

NEW YORK: Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas urged the UN General Assembly on Thursday to stop the war in the Gaza Strip between Israel and Palestinian Hamas, saying Israel had almost entirely destroyed Gaza and it was no longer fit for life.

“This madness cannot continue. The entire world is responsible for what is happening to our people,” he told the 193-member General Assembly.

The United States, Qatar, and Egypt have been trying unsuccessfully to broker a ceasefire and the release of hostages held by Hamas.

Palestinians gather at the site of an Israeli strike on a school sheltering displaced people, amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip on September 26, 2024.

Abbas called for a comprehensive and permanent ceasefire in Gaza, an end to attacks by Israeli settlers in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, the delivery of humanitarian aid throughout Gaza and a full withdrawal of the Israeli military from the enclave.

“We refuse the establishment of buffer zones or taking any part from Gaza,” he said. “We will not allow a single centimeter of Gaza to be taken.”

“The State of Palestine must shoulder its responsibilities in the Gaza Strip and impose its full mandate on it and jurisdiction on it, including the border checkpoints, especially the Rafah international border,” Abbas said.

He said that the Palestinian Authority, which he leads, should have control over all Palestinian territories and that it would hold elections once the war is over. They would be the first national elections in nearly two decades, and he did not say how he would overcome the political and security obstacles that have prevented them from taking place.

Israel’s U.N. Ambassador Danny Danon was critical of the Palestinian president’s speech.

“Abbas spoke for 26 minutes and did not say the word ‘Hamas’ once. Since the massacre of October 7, Abbas has failed to condemn Hamas for their crimes against humanity,” he said on X.

“Abbas’s legacy is one of chronic weakness in the face of terrorism and hatred.”