🔴 Live: Palestinian President Abbas calls on UN General Assembly to 'not allow another Nakba'

To display this content from YouTube, you must enable advertisement tracking and audience measurement. One of your browser extensions seems to be blocking the video player from loading. To watch this content, you may need to disable it on this site. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas takes the rostrum on the third day of the UNGA on Thursday hours ahead of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s address to the assembly. Follow our liveblog for all the latest updates. Abbas warns against plan to separate West Bank into north and south zones Abbas also called on US President Donald Trump to "fulfil commitments" he made to Arab leaders to prevent the annexation of Palestinian lands. Abbas calls for accelerating implementation of second phase of Gaza peace plan Israeli policies will ‘destroy two-state solution’, Abbas warns Abbas said that Palestinian people “seek a democratic Palestinian state” that "lives in peace alongside the state of Israel". "No lasting security can be built on the occupation of a people and the denial of their basic rights," he added. People in Gaza are subject to ‘genocidal war’, Abbas says Israeli actions in Gaza and the West Bank "threaten life and existence of Palestinian people on their own land", Abbas told the general assembly. "The danger is no longer limited to undermining the two-state solution and preventing the realization of the Palestinian state," Abbas said. Palestinians should not be punished for demanding an end to occupation, Abbas tells UN Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas has slammed Washington's "punitive" decision to deny him a visa to attend the UN's signature diplomatic week. "We reject these unlawful punitive measures, and we reject the accusations and justifications on which they were based," he told the UN General Assembly in a pre-recorded video message. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas will be the next speaker at the UN General Assembly Because of the visa denial, Mahmoud Abbas will address the assembly by video. Nigeria, US agree to increase mining investment Nigeria and the United States have agreed to "deepen American investment" in the mining sector of Africa's most populous country, Nigeria's minerals ministry said Thursday. The accord comes as US President Donald Trump has slashed foreign aid and instead prioritised investment deals, especially in Africa, where Chinese firms have deeper roots. Dele Alake, Nigeria's minister for solid minerals, and Christopher Landau, US deputy secretary of state, signed the "framework for American investment in Nigeria's $700 billion mineral resources" Wednesday in New York, on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, the ministry said. Israel's Netanyahu arrives in New York ahead of UN speech Israel's increasingly isolated Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has arrived in New York to address the United Nations General Assembly, but no meeting with US President Donald Trump is planned. Netanyahu's office said he was on a “tight schedule” and needed to return to Israel before the start of the Jewish holiday of Sukkot, which begins at sundown on Friday. While in New York he will meet with the presidents of Argentina, Bolivia, Paraguay, Panama, and Ethiopia, the vice president of Colombia, and the prime ministers of Greece, Slovenia, and Papua New Guinea, according to his office. Iranian and Ukrainian foreign ministers meet in New York, Mehr news agency reports The Iranian and Ukrainian foreign ministers held a meeting on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly on Thursday, the semi-official Mehr news agency reported, the first such meeting since tensions rose in July following a Ukrainian attack on an Iranian commercial vessel in the Caspian Sea. Iran may expand war to Indian Ocean if US attacks again: supreme leader's adviser Iran may expand the Middle East war to the Indian Ocean if the US or Israel attacks again, said an adviser to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei. "Since the conflict has spread from the Persian Gulf and Strait of Hormuz to the Red Sea, it is possible that, in response to more war, the front will expand even further, reaching the Indian Ocean and perhaps beyond," said Yahya Rahim Safavi in a video released by Iran's Fars news agency. US drafted a memo, which was never released, blasting France, UK over West Bank sanctions, report says In early September, US officials in Jerusalem and Washington prepared a draft statement attributed to Secretary of State Marco Rubio condemning plans by the UK, France and Canada to block imports from Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank. The September 8 dated document, previously unreported and which two sources tod Reuters that it was driven by David Milstein, an influential aide to US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, proposed that Rubio describe the countries' actions as a series of hostile measures against Israel that contribute to antisemitism. "These tactics unacceptably draw from the playbook of the antisemitic boycotts, divestments and sanctions movement," the draft document, reviewed by Reuters, said. The statement was never released. According to three people familiar with the matter, the statement was not supported by the White House and the State Department's senior leadership. The people spoke on condition of anonymity. Hundreds of trucks jam Turkey-Iran border crossing as US blockade pushes trade overland Hundreds of trucks idle along the road at the Gurbulak crossing on the Iran-Turkey border. Bustling even in normal times, the countries' largest crossing is now a make-or-break economic lifeline for Tehran as the US navy blockades its ports. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has pressed to accelerate overland trade as the blockade limits the vast majority of imports while cutting off the oil and gas sales that largely keep the economy alive. “I’ve been driving through this border gate for 15 years. I’ve never had to wait as long as now,” said Muhammed Rıza Shiri, 55, who had waited four days to carry his load of rubber into Iran. “We had to wait at the end of a seven-kilometre line. We used to wait, maximum, for three days here. Because of the war, the waiting times exceed five days.” Iran accuses the US of trying to weaken the country. Tehran wants the US blockade to end before it allows commercial shipping to flow again through the Strait of Hormuz. Trucks line up on the road leading to the Gurbulak border crossing on the Turkish-Iranian border in Agri province, eastern Turkey, September 22, 2026. (Photo: Serra Yedikardes, AP) Israel's Netanyahu expected to denounce enemies, allies with UN spotlight Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, facing a difficult reelection campaign at home, addresses the UN Thursday where he is expected to lash out at both enemies as well as allies that have crossed him in recent months. Ahead of his turn at the UN's signature diplomatic week, Netanyahu said he was going to "tell the truth about you", addressing New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and accusing him of "supporting the Hamas terrorist monsters". He also baselessly accused Mamdani of "inciting riots against New York Jews". Mamdani recently vowed to execute an ICC arrest warrant when the visiting leader arrived in the city for the UN's signature gathering. The Hague-based International Criminal Court (ICC) said in 2024 it had reasonable grounds to believe Netanyahu was responsible for alleged war crimes in his Gaza campaign that responded to Hamas' deadly October 7, 2023 attacks. Mamdani, who has long supported Palestinian rights and accused Israel of war crimes, fired back Tuesday and said "we all know that what the prime minister has said in that video is not true". One of Netanyahu's fiercest critics, Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas, will not be in the room after Washington denied him a visa to attend. Erstwhile allies of Israel Britain and France will likely be in Netanyahu's firing line Thursday. Britain has imposed limited sanctions on Israeli exports from the occupied West Bank, a move France recently followed on. French President Emmanuel Macron drew Israel's ire for claiming Hamas was not active in the West Bank. Hamas' stronghold has traditionally been Gaza. Syria's President Ahmed al-Sharaa told the UN Wednesday that the contested Golan Heights region would "remain Syrian" despite ongoing military occupation by Israel. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian gave a defiant wartime address at the UN accusing the US of terrorism in his country and saying Iran would not "bend at the knee". Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told the UN General Assembly that Russian President Vladimir Putin had enlisted fighters from 47 countries including North Korea, Ghana and India to fight against Ukraine. Leaders of some of the world's biggest AI companies urged caution at the United Nations, warning that increasingly autonomous systems could outpace human oversight.