Gaza's Displaced See No Path Forward After Netanyahu's UN Address

Displaced Palestinians sheltering in Gaza City say they have been left with no clarity about their future after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's address to the United Nations General Assembly.

Speaking from among tents pitched in the territory, Nasser Hijazi, a resident of Gaza City, said the speech made no reference to the people of Gaza. "We do not figure in his calculations," he said, describing the uncertainty as frightening. He said it was impossible to tell whether the coming period would bring peace, a ceasefire, or a war that could wipe them out.

Shroud Sadallah, displaced from Jabaliya, said the address had passed over the Strip entirely, offering no word on ending the war or on how Gaza's future would be decided. "Our lives today hang in the balance, held by hands whose identity is a mystery to us," Sadallah said, adding that nothing had been settled about what lies ahead.

A third resident, Khalil Haddad, displaced from east of Gaza City, dismissed the gathering and others like it, along with Arab summits, as serving the interests of the Palestinian people.

In his remarks to the assembly, Netanyahu rejected allegations of genocide in Gaza as "the biggest lie of the century" and asserted Israel's right to wage war against Iran. Scores of delegates walked out of the hall in protest. The speech came after days of addresses by world leaders condemning Israel's conduct of the war and accusing it of genocide against Palestinians.

The address, delivered during evening prime time in Israel and at times resembling a campaign speech, appeared aimed largely at a domestic audience ahead of elections scheduled for October 27. Netanyahu recalled the scale of the October 7, 2023 attack, saying it had left Israel no choice but to strike Hamas hard.

Many governments have accused Israel of war crimes, and the International Criminal Court has issued an arrest warrant for Netanyahu on charges of crimes against humanity.

The war began on October 7, 2023, when Hamas-led militants attacked Israel, killing around 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages. At least 73,922 Palestinians have been killed in the offensive that followed, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, part of the Hamas-run government whose figures are generally regarded as reliable by the international community.