Palestinian President Abbas Urges UN General Assembly to 'Not Allow Another Nakba'

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is set to call on the United Nations General Assembly to 'not allow another Nakba,' addressing the body by video as world leaders gather for high-level discussions that also include scrutiny of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over the war in Gaza, according to a report from France 24.

The term 'Nakba,' Arabic for 'catastrophe,' refers to the mass displacement of Palestinians that occurred around the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948 and remains a central reference point in Palestinian political and historical discourse. Invoking the term at the UN General Assembly reflects longstanding Palestinian concerns about displacement and dispossession, concerns that have taken on renewed urgency amid the war in Gaza.

Abbas's planned address by video, rather than in person, is consistent with the format Palestinian leadership has used in past sessions of the General Assembly, where discussions of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict have remained a recurring and often contentious agenda item.

The session comes as Netanyahu is also expected to face scrutiny at the United Nations over Israel's conduct of the war in Gaza, according to the report, placing the two leaders' perspectives on the conflict before the international body during the same broader proceedings.

The UN General Assembly's annual high-level session regularly draws heads of state and government from around the world and has, in recent years, become an important venue for international debate over the war in Gaza, humanitarian conditions in the Palestinian territories, and prospects for a broader political resolution to the conflict.

Further details on the specific content of Abbas's address, and any response from Israeli officials, were not included in the initial report.