Pratiksha Ghildial
Reporting from New York

Scores of protesters gathered in Times Square as Netanyahu delivered his speech.

Netanyahu used speech to address war criticismspublished at 15:20 BST

15:20 BST

Nada Tawfik
Reporting from New York

Benjamin Netanyahu first and foremost, wanted to speak directly to the American people with this address.

Making references to 9/11, thanking President Trump directly - which brought applause from the US delegation - and saying that Trump is on his side when it comes to dealing with Iran.

Netanyahu has constantly tried to frame the war in Gaza as one of good versus evil, and he also used his address to hit back at the UN and other countries who are united in what they want to see happen.

He made several claims that the UN has fought back against, including the amount of aid going into Gaza, which the UN says is not enough.

He also said that Israel is not targeting civilians. We know that the UN is very worried about how this war is being carried out, saying it is completely disproportionate.

The UN has stressed that because of these competing narratives, Israel should allow international journalists into Gaza - currently, news outlets rely on local reporters within the Strip, because Israel does not allow foreign media, including BBC News, to send journalists in.

Netanyahu is trying to hit back at what the UN has been saying, while framing Israel's mission as a fight against terrorism and "Iran's terror axis".

Jonathan Csapo
Reporting from New York

Netanyahu left the stage to a standing ovation from a large group of observers in the balcony above the General Assembly hall.

Some pumped their fists in the air in support of the Israeli PM - a stark contrast to the official delegate seats in the main hall below, which were largely empty after dozens of members walked out in protest when Netanyahu took to the stage.

Image source, Getty Images

Netanyahu now reacts to the decision of countries including France and the UK to recognise a Palestinian state, calling it "national suicide" for Israel.

It's "sheer madness, it's insane and we won't do it", the Israeli PM says.

And after that, his address is finished. The Israeli delegation give Netanyahu a standing ovation.

Netanyahu is now talking about accusations that Israel is "deliberately targeting civilians".

"The opposite is true," he says, stating that Israel has dropped "millions of leaflets and sent millions of texts" to get civilians to evacuate Gaza City.

Meanwhile, "Hamas implants itself in mosques, schools, hospitals, apartment buildings" he says, to force civilians to "stay in harm's way" - "often threatening them at gunpoint".

Moving on to allegations of genocide levied at Israel, Netanyahu asks if a country committing genocide would plead with a population to get out of harm's way: "Did the Nazis ask the Jews to leave?"

He then rejects accusations that Israel is starving people in Gaza on purpose. If there are Gazans that don't have enough food it is because Hamas "steals it, hoards it and sells it", he says.

For context: Earlier this month, a UN commission of inquiry said Israel has committed a genocide against Palestinians in Gaza. It cited statements by Israeli leaders, and the pattern of conduct by Israeli forces, as evidence of genocidal intent. Israel’s foreign ministry denounced the report as “distorted and false”.

Alexander Lederman
Reporting from New York

I’m in a booth right above the US delegation.

As Netanyahu praised President Trump and spoke of the assassination attempts against him, those seated at the table broke out into applause.

"Lay down your arms," Netanyahu tells the "remaining" leaders of Hamas. "Let my people go" and "free the hostages," he says.

"If you do you will live, if you don't, Israel will hunt you down," he threatens.

Then, he brings out more placards, and does a "pop quiz".

The first reads: "Who shouts death to America?", with the answers reading: "a) Iran, b) Hamas, c) Hezbollah, d) Houthis, e) all the above".

Shouts could be heard in the hall, and Netanyahu ticks the option for "e) all of the above".

Netanyahu further says that President Trump "understands better than any other leader that Israel and America face a common threat".

He adds that in the wake of the 7 October attack, many leaders supported Israel, but that support has since "evaporated".

Image source, EPA/Shutterstock

Netanyahu then suggests that much of the world doesn't remember the attacks of 7 October 2023.

"But we remember," he adds, before pointing to a QR code on a badge on his jacket, which he says contains the reason "why we fight, and why we must win".

Netanyahu then goes on to describe some of the events of 7 October, saying that some of those taken hostage were Holocaust survivors, as well as grandparents and their grandchildren.

He says Israel has brought home 207 of these hostages, adding that 20 of the 48 remaining in Gaza are alive.

He reads the names of these 20 from a list, before speaking directly to the hostages through loudspeakers the Israeli military has set up on the Gaza border.

"We have not forgotten you," he says, adding that Israel will not rest "until we bring all of you home".

As a reminder, the recent conflict in Gaza began after Hamas attacked Israel on 7 October 2023, killing around 1,200 people and taking 251 hostage. At least 65,502 people have been killed in Israeli attacks in Gaza since 7 October 2023, according to the territory's Hamas-run health ministry.

Netanyahu says last year he stood at the podium and showed a map, entitled "The Curse", which he brings out again now. He says it shows "the curse of Iran's terror axis".

"This axis threatened the peace of the entire world, the stability of our region and the very existence of my country Israel," Netanyahu says.

He claims over the past year Israel "hammered" the Houthis, destroyed "the bulk of the Hamas terror machine" and "crippled Hezbollah".

He adds that "most importantly [...] we devastated Iran's atomic weapons and ballistic missiles programme".

Tapping on countries against the map, Netanyahu reels through different leaders, including Hamas's Yahya Sinwar, Hezbollah's Hassan Nasrallah and Iran's top atomic scientists. All "gone", he says.

Image source, Reuters

As Netanyahu takes to the stage, dozens of people file out of the room in protest, with others applauding.

The chair repeatedly says “please, order in the hall” and bangs his gavel.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is now speaking at the 80th UN General Assembly.

It has started with many people booing and walking out of the hall - although there is also applause and cheering.

We'll bring you the key lines here, and you can watch it live - press play at the top of the page.

Netanyahu expected to target support base in impassioned addresspublished at 13:57 BST

13:57 BST

Yolande Knell
Middle East correspondent, in Jerusalem

When he addresses world leaders in a few minutes, the Israeli PM’s talent for oratory looks set to be put to the test. Expect him to come out in his typical pugilistic style defending Israel’s actions in Gaza and the wider region.

But in the face of growing international isolation, the Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth expects that he will be “targeting his speech to his electoral base.”

Local media say he will give an impassioned Zionist address, slamming France’s President Macron and other allies who have recognised Palestinian statehood this week. He will repeat his view that these announcements reward terrorism and Hamas.

But as Netanyahu relies increasingly on President Trump, it is thought he will show openness to his efforts to end the war and post-war proposals after Israel’s conditions are met.

Already, reports say that the PM has been briefed on the White House’s 21-point plan in meetings with the US Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner. It is said that a key minister and Netanyahu aide, Ron Dermer has helped shape the plan.

Israel has always had its enemies - now its allies are criticising toopublished at 13:50 BST

13:50 BST

Yolande Knell
Middle East correspondent, in Jerusalem

Image source, Mario Tama/Getty Images

Memorably back in 2012, Netanyahu brought out a diagram of a bomb and used a marker to show where a red line should be drawn to stop Iran’s nuclear programme.

Israel has always had its enemies, and in the past, that has roused the country’s veteran leader, Benjamin Netanyahu, when speaking at the UN General Assembly. But now many see his country as an international pariah.

Long-time allies who rallied around Israel in the aftermath of the shocking 7 October attacks in 2023, have joined condemnation of its brutal war in Gaza.

This week, ten countries including the UK, France, Canada, and Australia recognised Palestinian statehood over Israeli objections, arguing this was to keep alive the two-state solution to the decades-old conflict in the region.

The EU is considering tariffs and sanctions on Israel. Germany has halted some arms exports. Even in the US, polls suggest that public views of Israel have recently turned more negative.

Reports say that the UN is gearing up for possible protests during Netanyahu’s speech. Israel’s delegation suggests that the Palestinians and other Arab representatives may try interrupting him. The Israeli PM has invited Jewish leaders and supporters to cheer him on and respond.

Image source, Getty Images

The war in Gaza has been going on for nearly two years.

Israeli forces are nearing the centre of Gaza City, which Israel describes as the "last stronghold of Hamas".

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) estimated last week that up to 3,000 Hamas fighters were in the city.

Meanwhile the BBC has spoken to a Hamas figure who claims the militant group is willing to call thousands of fighters into the city, raising the fear of intense fighting in dense urban areas where thousands of civilians remain.

On Wednesday, local hospitals reported that more than 80 Palestinians were killed by Israeli fire.

The Israeli military said it struck two Hamas fighters and that the number of casualties did not align with its own information.

And, over the past day, the IDF says it has struck over 140 Hamas targets throughout the Strip.

In its latest update yesterday, Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry says 83 people have been killed and 216 injured in the last 24 hours across the Strip. This brings the total number killed since 7 October 2023 to 65,502, it says.

As a reminder, International journalists have been banned by Israel from entering the Gaza Strip independently since the start of the war nearly two years ago, making verifying claims from both sides difficult.

Netanyahu's office has just announced that, as part of an "informational effort", loudspeakers will be placed on trucks on the Israeli side of the border with Gaza.

This is to broadcast Netanyahu's UN speech to those in the territory, it said.

As Israel faces increasing global pressure to end the conflict in Gaza and its occupation of the West Bank, some in Netanyahu's administration have called for Israel to take control of the West Bank outright.

But speaking to reporters last night, Donald Trump said he "will not allow Israel to annex the West Bank".

The UK and Germany say they have also warned Israel against annexation, while UN Secretary General António Guterres has called such a move "morally, legally and politically intolerable".

The West Bank - land between Israel and the River Jordan - is controlled overwhelmingly by Israel, but since the 1990s, a Palestinian government known as the Palestinian Authority has run most of its towns and cities.

The Israeli government announced plans to expand settlements in the region after coming to power in 2022. It does not recognise the right of the Palestinians to have their own state and argues that the West Bank is part of the Israeli homeland.

There are about 160 Israeli settlements, housing about 700,000 Jews, in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

Palestinians - of which around three million are estimated to live in the West Bank - want all Israeli settlements to be removed and they are considered illegal under international law.

Adam Goldsmith
Live reporter

Image source, Getty Images/Bloomberg

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will address the United Nations General Assembly shortly, as Israel faces increasing pressure to end the conflict in Gaza.

Speaking at 14:00 BST (09:00 local time in New York), Netanyahu is expected to "denounce" leaders including France's Emmanuel Macron, who have taken the opportunity to recognise a Palestinian state in front of the UN this week.

Opening the 80th General Assembly, the UN's secretary general told delegates that international law is being "trampled" in Gaza, and repeated calls for a "two-state solution" in the region.

Donald Trump told delegates that a ceasefire is needed in Gaza, but refused to condemn Israel's actions. His administration also refused visa admittance to Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas who appeared via video link.

As we build up to Netanyahu's speech - which you'll be able to watch live here - we'll have insight and analysis of this week's UN talks, and we'll also bring you up to speed with the situation on the ground in Gaza.