Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has pledged Israel will combat till “complete victory” in its persevering with conflict on Gaza and promised to proceed assaults on the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah, as hopes light for a ceasefire that would head off an all-out regional conflict.
A number of delegations walked out as Netanyahu approached the lectern to talk whereas supporters within the gallery cheered.
“I didn’t intend to come back right here this yr. My nation is at conflict combating for its life,” Netanyahu mentioned on Friday.
“However after I heard the lies and slanders levelled at my nation by most of the audio system at this podium, I made a decision to come back right here and set the report straight.”
Israeli assaults on Gaza have killed greater than 41,500 Palestinians and wounded greater than 96,000 others since October 7, in accordance with the Palestinian Well being Ministry.
Greater than half of these killed have been ladies and kids, together with about 1,300 youngsters underneath the age of two.
Israel launched the assault on Gaza in response to a Hamas-led assault on southern Israel, which killed not less than 1,139 individuals, largely civilians, in accordance with an Al Jazeera tally primarily based on official Israeli figures, with about 250 others seized as captives.
Israeli chief advised the 193-member meeting that the Palestinian group Hamas, which governs Gaza, shouldn’t have any function within the reconstruction of the territory.
“If Hamas stays in energy, it would regroup … and assault Israel repeatedly and once more … So Hamas has acquired to go,” he advised the United Nations Normal Meeting on Friday.
The US, together with Egypt and Qatar, has been making an attempt unsuccessfully to achieve a ceasefire that might finish the conflict and safe the discharge of the captives.
“This conflict can come to an finish now. All that has to occur is for Hamas to give up, lay down its arms and launch all of the hostages,” Netanyahu mentioned.
“But when they don’t – in the event that they don’t – we are going to combat till we obtain complete victory. Whole victory. There isn’t any substitute for it. “
He mentioned Israeli forces have destroyed “90 %” of Hamas’s rockets and killed or captured half of its forces.
Hamas accused Netanyahu of telling “blatant lies” in his speech.
Netanyahu “continued his sequence of blatant lies and escalated his threats in opposition to the peoples of the area, whereas … increasing his circle of crimes to incorporate our individuals in Lebanon”, a press release from the Palestinian group mentioned.
Al Jazeera’s senior political analyst Marwan Bishara mentioned the US authorities gave Israel the greenlight to make use of self-defence as a rationale for its conflict on Gaza by drawing a parallel between Hamas’s October 7 assault and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
“It then went on to defend it, to arm it, to finance it and to defend it on the United Nations and that’s why we have to do not forget that Netanyahu has the vanity to come back to the UN and lecture the world, as a result of the US helps him, a conflict felony,” he mentioned.
‘Sufficient is sufficient’
The prime minister additionally advised world leaders that his nation will “proceed degrading” the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah till it achieves its targets alongside the Israel-Lebanon border.
Israel and Hezbollah have been exchanging hearth virtually every single day since October 8, when the Iran-aligned group fired rockets at Israel in what it says was an act of solidarity with Palestinians underneath assault in Gaza.
Most of these exchanges have been contained to the area across the Israel-Lebanon border. However Israel’s navy dramatically escalated its assaults on Hezbollah in latest days, killing greater than 600 individuals in Lebanon since Monday in a wave of air raids, in accordance with Lebanon’s Ministry of Public Well being.
“Israel has each proper to take away this risk and return our residents to their residence safely. And that’s precisely what we’re doing … we’ll proceed degrading Hezbollah till all our targets are met,” Netanyahu mentioned.
“Simply think about if terrorists turned El Paso and San Diego into ghost cities … How lengthy would the American authorities tolerate that?” he mentioned, shaking his fist in emphasis.
“But Israel has been tolerating this insupportable state of affairs for nearly a yr. Effectively, I’ve come right here right now to say: Sufficient is sufficient.”
Israel and the Lebanese group have pushed tens of 1000’s of individuals from their properties on each side of the border.
Late Wednesday, the US, France and different allies collectively referred to as for an “instant” 21-day ceasefire to permit for negotiations as fears develop that the violent escalation in latest days – following 11 months of cross-border alternate of fireside – might escalate into an all-out conflict.
The United Nations has mentioned that greater than 90,000 individuals have been displaced since Monday in Lebanon.
The 2 audio system who preceded Netanyahu on Friday every made a degree of criticising Israel’s conflict on Gaza. “Mr Netanyahu, cease this conflict now,” Slovenian Prime Minister Robert Golob mentioned as he closed his remarks, pounding the rostrum.
Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif additionally denounced the Israeli assault on Gaza. “This isn’t only a battle. That is systematic slaughter of harmless individuals of Palestine,” he mentioned.