He accused Israel of carrying out killings and destruction, imposing starvation, and seeking to forcibly displace the people of Gaza. Abbas made the statement from his office in the West Bank, after the US refused to grant visas to the Palestinian delegation planning to attend the UN General Assembly for the second consecutive year.
Abbas described the situation in Gaza as an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe and accused Israeli settlers of escalating violence to expand their settlements in the occupied West Bank, saying the territory is being fragmented and East Jerusalem isolated. These developments, he said, are making life increasingly difficult for Palestinians and forcing them to leave their homeland.
