Palestine News Today: Netanyahu's UN Speech Sparks Global Protests as Gaza Suffering Continues
25 September 2026. Benjamin Netanyahu's combative address to the UN General Assembly triggered walkouts, mass protests and fierce criticism this week, while new reports detail continued deaths in Gaza and settlement expansion in the West Bank. Diplomatic pressure is mounting, with the EU, Egypt and Palestinian officials all demanding urgent action to save the two-state solution.
Netanyahu accuses critics of antisemitism in UN address
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivered a combative speech to the UN General Assembly, according to Middle East Eye and The Guardian, dismissing accusations of genocide in Gaza as the 'opposite' of what he claimed was happening. He attacked numerous critics, including New York City's mayor, and accused them of antisemitism, while dozens of delegates walked out of the chamber in protest as he began speaking, The Guardian reports. Al Jazeera noted the stark contrast between Netanyahu addressing the assembly in person despite an outstanding ICC arrest warrant, and the treatment afforded to Palestinian representatives.
Sources: Middle East Eye, The Guardian, The Guardian, Al Jazeera
Mass protests and arrests outside UN headquarters
More than 100 people were arrested in New York as Netanyahu spoke, according to The Guardian, with demonstrators including Jewish, Palestinian, Iranian and Lebanese New Yorkers gathering to oppose his presence. Al Jazeera reported that Jewish protesters joined a Free Palestine march specifically to reject Netanyahu's leadership. One protester, writing in The Guardian, said she felt compelled to take a stand given the ICC warrant against Netanyahu and the UN's own findings on genocide in Gaza.
Sources: The Guardian, Al Jazeera, The Guardian
Hamas condemns Netanyahu speech as full of falsehoods
Hamas denounced Netanyahu's UN address as 'rife with lies', according to Middle East Eye, arguing that his denial of what it called systematic genocide contradicts the UN's own reporting. The group also warned against what it described as Israeli plans in the occupied West Bank, accusing Netanyahu of denying Palestinian existence there and legitimising settler violence.
Sources: Middle East Eye
EU warns two-state solution under growing threat
EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said ambitions for a two-state solution are increasingly at odds with the reality on the ground, according to Anadolu Agency, citing continued settlement expansion and limited progress in Gaza. Separately, European Council President Antonio Costa told the UN that the impasse in Gaza and Palestine 'prolongs suffering' for millions and called for UN Security Council reform, reaffirming a two-state solution as the only path to lasting peace, Anadolu reports.
Sources: Anadolu Agency, Anadolu Agency
Two killed as ceasefire violations continue in Gaza
Two Palestinians were killed and 27 injured in fresh Israeli attacks in Gaza, according to Anadolu Agency, citing the Gaza Health Ministry. The ministry said Israeli violations of the ceasefire since October 2025 have killed 1,408 Palestinians and injured 4,916 in total. Separately, Middle East Monitor reported that Israeli forces struck a vehicle carrying the body of a deceased man as his family attempted to transport it for burial in Gaza City.
Sources: Anadolu Agency, Middle East Monitor
Gaza economy in world's most severe crisis, UN says
A UN report has found that Gaza's economy has entered the world's 'most severe crisis on record', according to Middle East Monitor. UN education officials separately called for urgent action to address the impact on Gaza's children, with a special envoy noting that hundreds of millions of children worldwide are being denied education, Anadolu Agency reports.
Sources: Middle East Monitor, Anadolu Agency
Israel expands settlements and uproots olive trees in West Bank
Israel approved construction of 567 new illegal settlement units in the southern occupied West Bank, covering the Asael and Beit Hagai settlements in the Hebron governorate, according to Anadolu Agency. Separately, Israeli forces uprooted 400 olive trees and destroyed 31 dunams of Palestinian-owned land using heavy machinery in Beit Rima, near Ramallah, as the harvest season approaches, Middle East Monitor reports. An elderly Palestinian man told Anadolu that the trees, planted decades ago by his father, would be replanted.
Sources: Anadolu Agency, Middle East Monitor, Anadolu Agency
Israeli army detains over 150 Palestinians in West Bank raids
The Israeli army detained more than 150 Palestinians during continued raids across the occupied West Bank on Thursday, according to Middle East Monitor. The raids form part of an ongoing pattern of military operations in Palestinian towns and refugee camps.
Sources: Middle East Monitor
US Senate edges towards vote on accountability for Americans killed
The US Senate is moving closer to a vote on holding Israel accountable for the deaths of American citizens killed in the occupied West Bank, according to Middle East Eye, citing a Democratic senator. Nine US citizens have been killed by Israelis in the West Bank over the past four years, the report noted.
Sources: Middle East Eye
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