Delegates walk out as Netanyahu defends Gaza campaign at UN General Assembly

Dozens of delegates walked out of the United Nations General Assembly hall on Thursday as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rose to address the general debate of the 81st session, leaving a swathe of empty seats behind him.

Netanyahu used the podium to defend Israel's military operations in Gaza and elsewhere in the region, rejecting allegations of genocide. Israel "didn't commit genocide," he said, adding that it had instead "prevented genocide." He accused a number of countries, including Western European states, of yielding to what he described as antisemitic pressure and of refusing to stand with Israel. Those who left the chamber during his remarks, he said, were "moral cowards," and he characterised criticism of Israel as the spread of lies.

The walkout underscored the diplomatic isolation Israel faces amid mounting international criticism over the war in Gaza.

Earlier in the day, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas told the assembly that the very existence of the Palestinian people was under threat and that the two-state solution had been severely undermined. Speaking to world leaders by pre-recorded video, Abbas said Palestinians in Gaza were facing killing, destruction, starvation, attempted forced displacement and what he called a war of genocide, while settlement expansion in the West Bank was accelerating.

"The danger is no longer limited to undermining the two-state solution and preventing the realization of the Palestinian state, it threatens the very existence of the Palestinian people," he said, warning that Israeli extremism was widening its colonial project towards a so-called Greater Israel.

Abbas called for stronger international efforts to preserve the two-state solution, arguing that neither military occupation nor settler violence would lead to it. He criticised the United States for denying visas to the Palestinian delegation for a second consecutive year and urged Washington to lift sanctions and restrictions on Palestine. He thanked countries that had banned products from Israeli settlements and pressed the US to honour its commitment to prevent the annexation of Palestinian territory.

"We will not leave our homeland, we will not accept displacement, we will not allow anyone to decide our future on our behalf," Abbas said.

Outside UN headquarters, hundreds of demonstrators gathered to protest Netanyahu's appearance and to voice support for the Palestinian people.