Hamas will have no role in future Gaza government, Abbas tells UN

Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian Authority president, has used a closely watched speech to the UN to decry Israel's "war of genocide" and settlement expansion, while condemning Hamas and saying the armed group would hand over its weapons in any postwar settlement.

- Andrew Roth New York

Abbas addressed the gathering by video conference after his visa was revoked by the US before the 80th session of the UN general assembly.

Reinforcing the global schism over Israel's war in Gaza, UN member states voted 145-5 vote to allow Abbas to address the UN remotely after the US barred more than 80 Palestinians from entering the country.

"What Israel is carrying out is not merely an aggression. It is a war crime and a crime against humanity that is both documented and monitored, and it will be recorded in history books and the pages of international conscience as one of the most horrific chapters of humanitarian tragedy in the 20th and 21st centuries," Abbas said yesterday.

Abbas reiterated a number of declarations he had made at a special session led by France and Saudi Arabia on Monday, where France was among several countries to formally recognise Palestinian statehood.