Netanyahu tells UN that Israel ‘must finish the job’ in Gaza after dozens of delegates walk out in protest – as it happened | World news

• Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to “finish the job” in Gaza and said that the recognition of a Palestinian state was “insane” as delegations walked out of his address to the United Nations. Just days after the UK, France, Canada, Australia, and other countries broke with the United States to recognise an independent Palestinian state, Netanyahu called a two-state solution “sheer madness. It’s insane, and we won’t do it.”

• More than 100 diplomats from more than 50 countries walked out as Netanyahu entered the hall, according to a tally by the Washington Post. Netanyahu gave the speech the morning after Donald Trump said he would restrain Netanyahu from annexing territories in the West Bank in retaliation for the expressions of support for Palestinian statehood. “I will not allow Israel to annex the West Bank … It’s not going to happen,” Trump said.

• Israeli military loudspeaker systems have broadcast Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech to the UN into Gaza in an unprecedented operation that immediately prompted controversy and outrage. In a statement on Friday, an Israeli government spokesperson said: “As part of the public diplomacy effort, the prime minister’s office has directed civilian elements, in cooperation with the [Israel Defense Forces], to place loudspeakers on the backs of trucks on the Israeli side of the Gaza border so that prime minister Netanyahu’s historic UN general assembly speech will be heard in the Gaza Strip.”

• In an “unprecedented operation”, Netanyahu’s office said the Israeli army would take over the mobile phones of Gaza residents and Hamas operatives and his speech would be broadcast live through the mobile devices. It was not immediately clear if this happened, or to what extent, Reuters reported.

• The world must not allow Iran to rebuild its nuclear and military programmes, Netanyahu said on Friday, a day before the United Nations is set to reimpose sanctions on Tehran. All UN sanctions on Iran are due to be reimposed at 8pm EDT on Saturday after European powers, known as the E3, triggered a 30-day process accusing Tehran of violating a 2015 deal meant to prevent it from developing a nuclear weapon, Reuters reported.

• 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.

• 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”.

• Israel, which has imposed a naval blockade on Gaza, said the “Global Sumud Flotilla” will not pass and that the project will only assist Hamas. The flotilla has blamed Israel for a drone attack it had said it experienced this week. According to Reuters, Israel’s foreign ministry did not respond directly to the accusation, but invited the flotilla to drop humanitarian aid for Israel to take to Gaza, or face consequences.

• Civilians in Gaza have sustained injuries of a type and on a scale more usually seen among professional soldiers involved in intense combat operations, research has found. A study published in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) found that some types of wounds – such as burns or injuries to legs – were more common among civilians in Gaza than among US soldiers fighting in recent conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.

• Israel’s air force carried out airstrikes on Friday on eastern Lebanon, the Lebanese state-run news agency reported without giving any word on casualties. The Israeli military said it struck a site used for manufacturing precision missiles, reports the Associated Press (AP). The airstrikes took place near the Lebanese village of Saraain in the Bekaa valley region, according to the National news agency. They are the latest strikes since the 14-month Israel-Hezbollah war ended with a US-brokered ceasefire in November.

• The White House is backing a plan that would see Tony Blair head a temporary administration of the Gaza Strip – initially without the direct involvement of the Palestinian Authority (PA), according to Israeli media reports. Under the proposal, Blair would lead a body called the Gaza International Transitional Authority (Gita) that would have a mandate to be Gaza’s “supreme political and legal authority” for as long as five years.

• Uefa could decide as early as next week whether to suspend Israel from its competitions, with the governing body facing growing pressure from inside and outside the game. Reports on Thursday, initially in the Times, suggested a vote that would determine Israel’s participation in World Cup qualifying and that of Maccabi Tel Aviv in the Europa League could be held by Uefa’s executive committee before the international break begins on 6 October.

• A final Russian attempt to defer the snapback of large-scale UN sanctions on Iran is expected to fail at the UN security council on Friday after European countries rejected last-minute Iranian offers to give UN weapons inspectors limited access to its bombed nuclear sites.

Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to “finish the job” in Gaza and said that the recognition of a Palestinian state was “insane” as delegations walked out of his address to the United Nations.

Just days after the UK, France, Canada, Australia, and other countries broke with the United States to recognise an independent Palestinian state, Netanyahu called a two-state solution “sheer madness. It’s insane, and we won’t do it.”

“Giving the Palestinians a state one mile from Jerusalem after October 7 is like giving al-Qaida a state one mile from New York City after September 11,” he said. Now 157 of 193 UN member states recognise Palestine as an independent state.

More than 100 diplomats from more than 50 countries walked out as Netanyahu entered the hall, according to a tally by the Washington Post.

Netanyahu gave the speech the morning after Donald Trump said he would restrain Netanyahu from annexing territories in the West Bank in retaliation for the expressions of support for Palestinian statehood. “I will not allow Israel to annex the West Bank … It’s not going to happen,” Trump said.

Right-wing allies of Netanyahu have proposed annexing up to 82% of the West Bank, which is formally governed by the Palestinian Authority. UK officials said that they were concerned the US could endorse the move.

But Netanyahu did not address the controversial plan on Friday, and his office has said he would only respond after the two meet on Monday at the White House. Targeting the UK, France and other countries that recognised Palestine, he said: “You didn’t do something right. You did something wrong, horribly wrong.”

“Your disgraceful decision will encourage terrorism against Jews and against innocent people everywhere,” he said.

Jason Burke

Israeli military loudspeaker systems have broadcast Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech to the UN into Gaza in an unprecedented operation that immediately prompted controversy and outrage.

In a statement on Friday, an Israeli government spokesperson said: “As part of the public diplomacy effort, the prime minister’s office has directed civilian elements, in cooperation with the [Israel Defense Forces], to place loudspeakers on the backs of trucks on the Israeli side of the Gaza border so that prime minister Netanyahu’s historic UN general assembly speech will be heard in the Gaza Strip.”

In addition to the speaker systems, Netanyahu’s office claimed that the Israeli military had taken control of the telephones of Gaza residents “and Hamas members” to broadcast the speech – though there was no evidence from within the devastated Palestinian territory this actually took place.

“The prime minister has appealed to the residents of Gaza and made it clear that the war could end immediately upon the return of the hostages, the disarming of Hamas and the demilitarisation of the Strip … [and] stressed that whoever does so will live while those who do not will be hunted,” the government statement said.

US president Donald Trump said on Friday that he is close to a deal to end the war in Gaza and bring hostages home, according to Reuters.

Trump made the comments to reporters before departing the White House to attend the Ryder Cup golf tournament in New York.

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.