World leaders used the 81st United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) to address the situation in Gaza and illegally occupied Palestinian territories, with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres condemning the October 7 Hamas attack while describing Israel’s response as involving a scale of death and destruction unlike anything he had seen.
Guterres opened the General Assembly by addressing the situation in the illegally occupied Palestinian territories and said that the world could not lose sight of the conditions in Gaza.
“Almost three years have passed since the heinous Hamas terror attack of October 7, but what followed was a large-scale offensive against Palestinians in Gaza, involving a scale of death and destruction unlike anything I have seen during my years as secretary-general,” he said.
President of United Stated (US) Donald Trump, among the first leaders to address the assembly, defended his administration’s role in ending the genocide in Gaza and praised the United Nations (UN) Security Council for endorsing his 20-point Gaza peace plan and approving the Board of Peace.
“One year ago, when I addressed the great leaders in this hall, the war in Gaza was still raging brutally. The hostages were still deep in Hamas tunnels, and there was no end in sight,” Trump said.
He stated that the steps taken on the sidelines of the General Assembly a year earlier later led to the end of the genocide and the return of all remaining hostages, “both living and dead.”
Trump also thanked countries that he said had contributed to relief and rebuilding efforts, including Qatar, Kuwait, Kazakhstan, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Uzbekistan.
French President Emmanuel Macron, however, challenged Trump’s description of the situation in Gaza, saying the “so-called peace in Gaza is a spectacle that shames us all.”
Macron stated that the so-called peace had not opened any humanitarian corridors in Gaza and also criticised increased illegal settler violence in the West Bank, stressing that it was removing the legitimate rights of Palestinians to exist.
Macron made the remarks hours after Trump presented his Gaza peace plan as a diplomatic achievement.
Jordanian King Abdullah II also criticised Israel’s genocide in Gaza and the West Bank, including illegal settler violence.
“In Gaza, the evidence is overwhelming. In the first 300 days of the so-called ceasefire, at least 300 Palestinian children were killed. Field hospitals were also targeted,” Abdullah said.
He also said that Trump had pushed for peace but accused the Israeli government of “moving the goalposts.”
“These can no longer be dismissed as temporary measures. Accountability begins when we call things what they are: an attempt to erase Palestinian and impose a new territorial reality,” Abdullah said.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan stated that the “injustice” against Palestinians “deeply offends humanity” and called on countries that do not recognise Palestine to reconsider.
“We will continue to be a voice for the state of Palestine,” Erdogan said.
He stated that more than 74,000 Palestinians had been killed in Gaza over the past three years, describing most of them as women and children, and pointed out that Gaza had the world’s highest rate of child amputation.
Erdogan also criticised the living conditions in Gaza. He said that the strip had become “the most inhumane and shameful concentration camp of our time” and accused Israel of a “genocidal mindset.”
Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani stated that there could be no “just international order” while Palestine remained a blind spot within it.
“What has transpired in Gaza is genocide in every sense of the word and a stain of shame on the conscience of humanity as a whole,” he declared.
The Qatari emir added that future generations would question the gap between the scale of the catastrophe and the international response, adding that Israeli leaders had begun openly discussing the displacement of Gaza’s population.
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva also addressed the crisis, stressing that generations of Palestinians will carry the pain of what he called the “genocide perpetrated by Netanyahu’s government in Gaza.”
The speeches came as the UN General Assembly brought together world leaders against the backdrop of conflicts, the environmental crisis and other global challenges. Guterres has called for cooperation and dialogue as the international system faces conflicts and divisions
Trump, meanwhile, also focused on Iran in his address, calling the Islamic Republic the “number one sponsor of terror” and saying that he had a “big decision” to make over whether to reach a deal with Tehran or “annihilate” the country.
