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UN Votes to Let Palestinian Leader Address General Assembly by Video After US Visa Denial

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas addresses the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly, Sept. 26, 2024, at UN headquarters. (AP)
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas addresses the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly, Sept. 26, 2024, at UN headquarters. (AP)
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UN Votes to Let Palestinian Leader Address General Assembly by Video After US Visa Denial

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas addresses the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly, Sept. 26, 2024, at UN headquarters. (AP)
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas addresses the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly, Sept. 26, 2024, at UN headquarters. (AP)

The United Nations General Assembly on Friday voted to allow Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to address its annual meeting of world leaders by video after the United States revoked his visa last month. The motion passed by a vote of 145-5, with six abstentions.

Abbas had hoped to attend a meeting next week called for by France and Saudi Arabia aimed at advancing a two-state solution to the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict. France, the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia plan to recognize a Palestinian state.

The United States is opposed to those efforts, saying the promise of statehood has emboldened Hamas and made it more difficult to reach a deal for a ceasefire and hostage release in the Gaza Strip. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government was opposed to Palestinian statehood before the war triggered by Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023, attack, and now says it would reward the group.

The ceasefire talks stalled after the Trump administration's Mideast envoy, Steve Witkoff, walked away from them in July, blaming Hamas, and suffered another blow when Israel carried out a strike targeting Hamas leaders in Qatar, which has served as a mediator throughout the war.

The US State Department revoked the visas of around 80 Palestinian officials last month, including Abbas, accusing the Palestinian leadership of undermining peace efforts.

Days ahead of the General Assembly vote, a number of US allies including France and the UK had tried to urge the US to reconsider its visa ban for Abbas. The decision by the Trump administration has received widespread backlash. The UN has called it a violation of the Host Country agreement the US made with the international organization that requires it to allow heads of state and government to travel to New York for diplomatic work and for the annual gatherings.

France and Saudi Arabia have advanced a phased plan for the establishment of a Palestinian state in the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem, territories Israel captured in the 1967 Mideast war. It would be governed by Abbas' Palestinian Authority with international assistance.

The Palestinian Authority is led by rivals of Hamas and currently administers parts of the Israeli-occupied West Bank. It recognizes Israel and cooperates with it on security matters, but the Israeli government says the authority is not truly committed to peace and accuses it of incitement.

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Arab World

Palestinian President Welcomes Joint International Statement Rejecting E1 Settlement Plan

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas during a press conference in Ankara on Wednesday (EPA)
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas during a press conference in Ankara on Wednesday (EPA)
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Palestinian President Welcomes Joint International Statement Rejecting E1 Settlement Plan

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas during a press conference in Ankara on Wednesday (EPA)
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas during a press conference in Ankara on Wednesday (EPA)

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas welcomed a joint statement issued by the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Canada, and Norway rejecting the Israeli occupation government's continuation of the E1 settlement plan and demanding an immediate halt to settlement expansion across the occupied West Bank.

Abbas called on the Israeli occupation government to immediately cancel the plan, stressing that severing the northern West Bank from its southern territory and isolating East Jerusalem constitutes a flagrant violation of international law, particularly UN Security Council Resolution 2334, and undermines the establishment of an independent Palestinian state along the 1967 borders, SPA reported.

The Palestinian president urged the signatory nations, the European Union, the UN Security Council, and the international community to translate their positions into concrete measures to halt settlement activities and to refuse recognition of any unlawful changes imposed on occupied Palestinian land.

Arab World

UN Warns 94% of Gaza's Population Urgently Needs Shelter and Basic Aid

People stand at a site destroyed during the Israeli offensive, in Beit Lahiya, in the northern Gaza Strip, August 18, 2026. (Reuters)
People stand at a site destroyed during the Israeli offensive, in Beit Lahiya, in the northern Gaza Strip, August 18, 2026. (Reuters)
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UN Warns 94% of Gaza's Population Urgently Needs Shelter and Basic Aid

People stand at a site destroyed during the Israeli offensive, in Beit Lahiya, in the northern Gaza Strip, August 18, 2026. (Reuters)
People stand at a site destroyed during the Israeli offensive, in Beit Lahiya, in the northern Gaza Strip, August 18, 2026. (Reuters)

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) warned that civilians in the Gaza Strip continue to face severe risks from airstrikes, shelling, and gunfire, reporting ongoing casualties, including child deaths, SPA reported.

OCHA stated that the remains of 50 people, including 19 children, were recently recovered and buried after being discovered under rubble in Gaza City, where they had remained trapped for over two years, SPA reported.

The office highlighted that 94% of Gaza's 2.1 million residents require urgent shelter and basic household assistance, with nearly two-thirds of families enduring rapidly deteriorating conditions in tents or temporary shelters.

Arab World

Israeli Forces Shoot Dead Palestinian Man in West Bank Raid

The wife of 58-year-old Fathi Khazem, who was killed by the Israeli military as they tried to arrest him, stands at the bedroom door near a pool of his blood at their home in the northern city of Jenin, in the Israeli-occupied Palestinian West Bank on August 21, 2026. (AFP)
The wife of 58-year-old Fathi Khazem, who was killed by the Israeli military as they tried to arrest him, stands at the bedroom door near a pool of his blood at their home in the northern city of Jenin, in the Israeli-occupied Palestinian West Bank on August 21, 2026. (AFP)
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Israeli Forces Shoot Dead Palestinian Man in West Bank Raid

The wife of 58-year-old Fathi Khazem, who was killed by the Israeli military as they tried to arrest him, stands at the bedroom door near a pool of his blood at their home in the northern city of Jenin, in the Israeli-occupied Palestinian West Bank on August 21, 2026. (AFP)
The wife of 58-year-old Fathi Khazem, who was killed by the Israeli military as they tried to arrest him, stands at the bedroom door near a pool of his blood at their home in the northern city of Jenin, in the Israeli-occupied Palestinian West Bank on August 21, 2026. (AFP)

Israeli forces shot dead a Palestinian man on Friday in the city of Jenin, in the north of the occupied West Bank, with the military saying he had attempted to stab a soldier.

Fathi Zidan Hazem, 58, "died from injuries sustained after being shot by Israeli forces early Friday in the city of Jenin," the Palestinian health ministry said in a statement, adding that his body was being withheld by Israel.

The Israeli military said a "terrorist armed with a knife attempted to stab an Israeli soldier" while troops were operating in the area of Jenin.

"The soldiers responded by firing toward the terrorist and eliminating him," it said, adding no injuries were reported among troops.

Hazem was a retired colonel in the Palestinian National Security Forces.

In April 2022, after his son, Raad Hazem, carried out a shooting spree in Tel Aviv in which he killed three Israelis and wounded several others, Israeli authorities demanded that Fathi Hazem hand himself in.

His son was shot dead by Israeli forces after a massive manhunt.

A second son, Abdul Rahman Hazem, was killed during an Israeli military raid targeting alleged militants in the Jenin refugee camp in September 2022.

AFP footage from the scene on Friday showed a pool of blood and bullets scattered among groceries in the family's home.

A Palestinian eyewitness, who declined to give her name to AFP, said Israeli forces raided her neighbor's house in the early hours and told Hazem to raise his hands, which he refused to do.

"He then attacked them with a knife, and they shot him seven times in front of his 10-year-old son. They dragged him down the stairs and took him with them," she said.

Violence in the West Bank, occupied by Israel since 1967, has surged since the Gaza war began with Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack on Israel.

Since then, at least 1,098 Palestinians, including fighters, have been killed by Israeli troops or settlers, according to Palestinian figures.

Official Israeli data shows that at least 48 Israelis, both civilians and security personnel, have been killed in attacks by Palestinians or during Israeli military operations.