UN General Assembly 2025: Day two brings further condemnation of Israel's war on Gaza

World leaders gathered in New York for day two of the United Nations General Assembly, in a week where Israel's genocide in Gaza and the issue of Palestinian statehood dominated the agenda both among western nations as well as the global south.

With Israel's final foray into Gaza City leading to a full occupation of the enclave, an impending annexation of the occupied West Bank, and the bombing of five other countries in between, the government of Benjamin Netanyahu has been blamed for fomenting unrestrained chaos and destruction far beyond the region.

Iran's president, Masoud Pezeshkian, took aim at Israel's "savage" and "flagrant" attacks on Iran in June, followed by the US bombing of three of its nuclear sites, all while Tehran was engaged in direct negotiations with President Donald Trump's envoy Steve Witkoff towards reviving elements of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal.

"The aerial assaults of the Zionist regime and the United States of America against Iranian cities, homes and infrastructure, precisely at a time when we were treading the path of diplomatic negotiations, constituted a grave betrayal of diplomacy," Pezeshkian told the General Assembly.

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