UN General Assembly 2025: On day three, Palestinian leader speaks with Gaza in spotlight

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas was one of the first leaders to address the UN General Assembly on Thursday. He spoke via video call as a result of the Trump administration banning him from entering the US. 

Abbas barely mentioned the decision to bar him from the assembly, and instead said the Palestinian Authority (PA) was ready to implement a Gaza plan discussed by US President Donald Trump and Arab and Muslim leaders. 

Abbas said the PA would work with international peacekeepers in Gaza and reiterated his demand that Hamas submit to the PA. 

“I speak to you today after almost two years of which our Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip have been facing a war of genocide, destruction, starvation and displacement,” Abbas said.

“What Israel is carrying out is not merely an aggression. It is a war crime and a crime against humanity that... will be recorded in history books… as one of the most horrific chapters of humanitarian tragedy," he added. 

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