Key events
As Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyhu took the stand at the United Nations general assembly on Friday in New York, scores of delegates walked out of the hall amid boos and cheers.
Netanyahu rebukes Western nations from UN stage for embracing Palestinian statehood
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu sharply denounced western countries on Friday for embracing Palestinian statehood and accused them of buckling under pressure from activists and others who have accused Israel of war crimes against Palestinians in Gaza.
Speaking at the United Nations general assembly, the Israeli leader pushed back in harsh terms against a flurry of diplomatic moves by leading US allies that deepened Israel’s international isolation over its conduct of the nearly two-year-old war against Hamas militants in Gaza.
Netanyahu said:
This week, the leaders of France, Britain, Australia, Canada and other countries unconditionally recognised a Palestinian state. They did so after the horrors committed by Hamas on 7 October – horrors praised on that day by nearly 90% of the Palestinian population.
With more countries joining the list of those endorsing Palestinian independence, the most right-wing government in Israeli history has made its strongest declaration yet that there will be no Palestinian state as it pushes on with its fight against Hamas.
Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has accused world leaders of “appeasing evil” rather than supporting Israel. He claimed that “many leaders who publicly condemn Israel, thank us behind closed doors”.
Addressing the United Nations general assembly in New York, Netanyhu claimed Israel were applying more measures to minimize civilian casualties than any military in history.
“Would a country committing genocide plead with the civilian population it is supposedly targeting to get out of harm’s way?” he asked.
Netanyhu said Israel had dropped “millions of leaflets, sent millions of text messages [and] made countless phone calls urging civilians to leave Gaza City”.
Israel ‘must finish job in Gaza as fast as possible’, Netanyahu tells the UN
In his speech to the United Nations general assembly in New York, Netanyahu said that “Israel must finish the job in Gaza as fast as possible”.
He said the “final remnants of Hamas are holed up in Gaza City”.
Speaking to the Israeli hostages remaining in Gaza, via loudspeakers facing towards the territory, Netanyahu said he would not rest until all the hostages are brought home. To Hamas, he said:
Lay down your arms. Free all [the] hostages now … If you do, you will live. If you don’t Israel will hunt you down.
‘We’ve not forgotten you,’ Netanyahu tells hostages in speech broadcast by troops into Gaza
Prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, speaking at the United Nations on Friday, vowed to continue Israel’s war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip and told the hostages still held by the Palestinian militants they were not forgotten as his speech was broadcast on loudspeakers towards Gaza.
Speaking in Hebrew, the Israeli leader said:
We’ve not forgotten you – not even for a second.
Netanyahu catalogued Israeli victories against Hamas and other militant groups backed by Iran in a speech that detailed Hamas’s actions on 7 October 2023, when the militant group attacked Israel, killing 1,200 people and took hostages, 48 of whom remain in Gaza, according to Israeli tallies.
“Much of the world no longer remembers 7 October. But we remember,” Netanyahu said.
Israel’s military response has killed more than 65,000 people in Gaza, according to local health officials, and left much of the territory in ruins.
Scores of delegates exited the hall as Netanyahu took the stage while attendees in the balcony rose to their feet to give him a standing ovation.
Netanyhu thanks Trump for ‘his bold, decisive action against Iran’
Netanyahu thanked US president Donald Trump for “his bold, decisive action against Iran”. The Israeli prime minister told the UN general assembly that “Iran’s enriched uranium stockpiles must be eliminated”.
He urged delegates to “remain clear-minded, vigilant [and] not allow Iran to rebuild [its] nuclear capabilities”.
Netanyhu added that Israel had “removed an existential threat of Iran” to his country.
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday cataloged Israeli victories against Hamas militants, Iran and their supporters in a speech at the United Nations that reminded the world of Hamas’s actions on 7 October 2023.
He said Israel had “devastated” Iran’s atomic weapons and ballistic missiles programme. He said Israel had also “hammered” the Houthis, “crushed the bulk of Hamas” and “crippled” Hezbollah.
Netanyhu begins speech at UN general assembly as scores of delegates walk out
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu is now speaking at the UN general assembly in New York.
Before he started speaking, dozens of delegates in the hall walked out. There were boos and cheers.
As Netanyahu started talking about Iran, there was some shouting from the crowd. There has also been applause in reaction to Netanyahu’s comments about Israel’s war with Iran.
You can watch the speech live via the feed at the top of the page.
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office has said that on his orders, troops will broadcast his speech at the UN headquarters to Palestinians in Gaza from loudspeakers mounted on trucks on the Israeli side of the border.
Benjamin Netanyahu to address the UN general assembly in New York
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu will address the United Nations general assembly soon. He is expected to speak at 2pm BST (9am local time in New York).
Here are some images via the newswires of scenes in New York when Netanyahu arrived yesterday:
UN identifies 158 firms linked to Israeli settlements
The United Nations on Friday released a long-awaited update of its database of companies with activities in Israeli settlements, listing 158 firms from 11 countries, reports Agence France-Presse (AFP).
Big firms such as Airbnb, Booking.com, Motorola Solutions and Trip Advisor remained on the list, while several companies including Alstom and Opodo were removed, the non-exhaustive database showed, according to AFP.
Most of the companies were based in Israel, while others were based in Canada, China, France, Germany, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, the UK and the United States.
The report called on companies to “take appropriate action to address the adverse human rights impacts” of their activities.
The UN high commissioner for human rights chief Volker Türk has condemned Israel’s policy of settlements on Palestinian territory in the occupied West Bank as a war crime. Türk said in a statement as his office published the database:
This report underscores the due diligence responsibility of businesses working in contexts of conflict to ensure their activities do not contribute to human rights abuses.
The list was first produced by the UN human rights office in 2020 amid harsh Israeli criticism, in response to a human rights council resolution four years earlier demanding a database of firms that profited from business in occupied Palestinian territory.
The UN rights office was asked to list companies found to be taking part in any of 10 specific activities, including construction, surveillance, demolitions and destruction of agricultural land in settlements in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem. It has stressed that listing companies in the database was “not, and does not purport to be, a judicial or quasi-judicial process”.
Despite a requirement for the database to be updated annually, it has been revised just once before, in 2023, when only the 112 firms that had figured on the original list were reviewed. Fifteen of them were removed for various reasons, leaving 97.
Friday’s release marks the first update that includes fresh names. The rights office said:
A total of 68 new companies were added to the list published in 2023, while seven of those … were removed as they were no longer involved in any of the activities concerned.
The exercise has been contentious from the start, reports AFP. In 2020 Israel and its main ally Washington fiercely condemned the creation of the database, with then Israeli foreign minister Israel Katz describing it as “a shameful surrender to pressure from countries and organisations who want to harm Israel”.
Palestinians, carrying their belongings by vehicle or on their backs, continue to flee toward southern Gaza via al-Rashid Street earlier today.
Philip Oltermann
The European Broadcasting Union has confirmed it will hold an online vote in November that could see the Israeli broadcaster Kan expelled from next year’s Eurovision song contest.
In a letter sent to participating broadcasters on Thursday, the EBU president, Delphine Ernotte Cunci, wrote there was an “unprecedented diversity of views” on Israel’s participation in Eurovision, and the issue required “a broader democratic basis”.
In a statement, the EBU said:
We can confirm that a letter has been sent from the executive board of the European Broadcasting Union to directors general of all our members informing them that a vote on participation in the Eurovision song contest 2026 will take place at an extraordinary meeting of the EBU’s general assembly to be held online in early November.
The decision comes after several European broadcasters, including those from Spain, the Netherlands, Ireland, Iceland and Slovenia, threatened to boycott the next edition of the world’s largest live music event if Israel was allowed to take part.
Russia was banned from Eurovision after its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Meanwhile Israel, which has won the contest four times since its debut in 1973, has continued to compete for the past two years despite disputes over its participation.
Both the 2024 contest in Malmö, Sweden, and this year’s event in Basel, Switzerland, were marked by pro-Palestine protests around the concert halls.
Next year’s Eurovision, the 70th anniversary of the song contest, is due to be held in the Austrian capital, Vienna, in May.