Abbas tells UN Israeli policies threaten Palestinian existence amid Gaza war
Mahmoud Abbas has warned the United Nations General Assembly that Israeli policies threaten the "very life and existence" of Palestinians. In prerecorded remarks from his office in Ramallah, the Palestinian Authority president said Palestinians were living through one of the "most dangerous periods" in their history. His address was broadcast after the United States denied visas to a Palestinian delegation for the second year in a row.
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Abbas said the situation in Gaza involved "killing, destruction, starvation" and attempts at displacement, which he described as creating an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe. He said Israeli forces were erasing Palestinian lives in Gaza and listed the destruction of neighbourhoods, cities, refugee camps, institutions, schools, universities, hospitals, mosques and churches. He also accused Israeli activity in the occupied West Bank of forming a "malicious colonial plan" and said settlement building was changing realities on the ground every day.
The remarks add to a long-running diplomatic dispute over the future of a Palestinian state and the conduct of the war in Gaza. Abbas urged the international community to implement the two-state solution on the basis of international law and said security could only be guaranteed by preserving the land on which a Palestinian state would be established. He also said any transitional period should lead to the reunification of Gaza and the occupied West Bank under one Palestinian state with a single legitimate armed force.
The speech comes against the backdrop of the Gaza war and continuing tension in the occupied West Bank, where settlement expansion remains a central point of contention. Abbas framed the issue as one of Palestinian survival rather than only political sovereignty. He said the international community should protect both the land and the people who live on it, reflecting the wider diplomatic struggle over borders, governance and statehood.
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Abbas also used the address to outline domestic political plans, saying the Palestinian Authority intends to hold legislative elections on November 28, the first in 20 years, although doubts remain over whether they will take place. Palestinians have not held legislative or presidential elections since 2005-2006, when Hamas took control of Gaza. He said the Palestinian Authority had completed a national reform programme promised to both Palestinians and the international community.
What remains unclear is how the international community will respond to Abbas's appeal and whether the planned elections will proceed on schedule. The source does not include an Israeli response to the speech, and it does not say whether the broader diplomatic position around the two-state solution will shift. The immediate focus now is on the continuing war in Gaza, the situation in the occupied West Bank and the next steps in Palestinian political planning.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas told the UN General Assembly on Thursday that Israeli policies now threaten "the very life and existence of the Palestinian people on their homeland." He said the international community must not allow "another Nakba." The remarks were delivered in a UN setting and directly framed as a warning over the future of the Palestinian people. Abbas did not provide further details in the source beyond the warning and his appeal to the world.
The source gives no additional operational facts, casualty figures, locations beyond the UN General Assembly, or named Israeli response. The report is limited to Abbas's statement that Palestinian existence is under threat and his appeal to prevent another Nakba.
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