Amidst waning expectations for a ceasefire that would prevent a full-scale regional conflict, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed Israel will fight until it achieves “total victory” in its on-going war on Gaza and has committed to keep attacking the Lebanese terrorist group Hezbollah.
As Netanyahu stepped up to the microphone to speak, fans in the gallery applauded and some delegations left.
“This year, I had no intention of coming here.”My nation is engaged in a war, struggling to survive,” Netanyahu declared last Friday.
“But I made the decision to come here and correct the record after hearing the falsehoods and slanders directed at my nation by many of the speakers at this podium.”
“Netanyahu tells the UN that Israel will continue attacking Gaza and Lebanon.”
Since October 7, Israeli attacks on Gaza have resulted in over 41,500 Palestinian deaths and over 96,000 injuries, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.
Women and children made up more over half of those slain, with roughly 1,300 of them being younger than two.
Israel attacked Gaza in retaliation for an attack on southern Israel by Hamas that claimed at least 1,139 lives, most of them civilians, according to an Al Jazeera tally based on official Israeli data. Approximately 250 more individuals were taken prisoner.
An Israeli official informed the 193-member assembly that the Gaza-governing Palestinian organisation, Hamas, ought to be excluded from any involvement in the region’s rehabilitation.
“If Hamas maintains its hold on power, it will reorganise and launch repeated attacks against Israel. Thus, Hamas must be eliminated,” he declared to the UN General Assembly on Friday.
In an attempt to bring the conflict to a stop and ensure the release of the prisoners, the United States, Egypt, and Qatar have been making fruitless ceasefire negotiations.
“We can finally put a stop to this war. Netanyahu stated that all that needs to occur is for Hamas to submit, give up its weapons, and free all of the captives. However, we will battle until we are completely victorious if they don’t. Complete triumph. There’s no replacement for it.
According to him, half of Hamas’s forces have been killed or captured and “90 percent” of the organization’s rockets have been destroyed. Netanyahu was said by Hamas to have told “blatant lies” during his speech.
According to a statement from the Palestinian organisation, Netanyahu “continued his series of blatant lies and escalated his threats against the peoples of the region, while expanding his circle of crimes to include our people in Lebanon. “Senior political commentator Marwan Bishara of Al Jazeera argued that by equating Russia’s invasion of Ukraine with Hamas’s October 7 strike, the US government granted Israel permission to wage war on Gaza on the grounds of self-defence.
He continued, “It then proceeded to defend it, arm it, finance it, and shield it at the United Nations. That’s why we need to remember that the US supports Netanyahu, a war criminal, and that’s why he has the arrogance to come to the UN and lecture the world.”
The prime minister also informed international leaders that unless Hezbollah achieves its objectives along the Israel-Lebanon border, his country will “continue degrading” the armed group in Lebanon.
Since October 8, when the Iran-aligned militia fired rockets at Israel in what it claimed was a show of solidarity with Palestinians being attacked in Gaza, Israel and Hezbollah have been engaged in gunfire practically daily.
The majority of those discussions have only taken place in the vicinity of the border between Israel and Lebanon. However, the Ministry of Public Health in Lebanon reports that since Monday, a series of airstrikes by Israel’s military has killed over 600 people in Lebanon, a sharp increase in the number of casualties against Hezbollah.
“Israel is fully entitled to eliminate this menace and securely repatriate our citizens to their homes. That’s precisely what we’re doing. Netanyahu declared, “We’ll keep weakening Hezbollah until we achieve all of our goals.”
would the US government put up with that? With emphasis, he shook his fist. However, Israel has been putting up with this unbearable circumstance for about a year. I’ve come here today to express my opinion that enough is enough.
Tens of thousands of civilians have been evicted from their houses on both sides of the border by Israel and the Lebanese militia. In an effort to facilitate talks, the US, France, and other allies simultaneously demanded a 21-day truce late on Wednesday. This was in response to growing concerns that the recent violent uptick in hostilities, which followed 11 months of cross-border gunfire, could turn into a full-scale conflict.
Over 90,000 people have reportedly been displaced in Lebanon since Monday, according to the UN.
Both of the speakers who spoke before Netanyahu on Friday specifically criticised Israel’s war on Gaza. The prime minister of Slovenia, Robert Golob, banged on the platform to end his speech and pleaded with Mr Netanyahu to “stop this war now.”
Shehbaz Sharif, the prime minister of Pakistan, condemned the Israeli attack on Gaza as well. This disagreement goes beyond that. “This is the deliberate killing of innocent Palestinians,” he declared.
[Al Jazeera]
