Netanyahu slams leaders recognising Palestinian state ahead of US trip

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu denounced leaders who had recognised a Palestinian state, as he headed to the United States on Thursday for White House talks and an address to the UN General Assembly.

His remarks came three days after France led a special summit on the sidelines of the General Assembly, which saw a slew of Western governments recognise the State of Palestine against the backdrop of the nearly two-year Gaza war.

Netanyahu is due to address the assembly on Friday.

"At the General Assembly, I will speak our truth -- the truth of the citizens of Israel, the truth of the (Israeli) soldiers, the truth of our nation," Netanyahu said at Ben Gurion airport ahead of his departure, according to a statement from his office.

"I will condemn those leaders who, instead of condemning the murderers, rapists and burners of children, want to give them a state in the heart of Israel. This will not happen."

On Wednesday, Netanyahu said the recent flurry of recognitions of Palestinian statehood, including by Britain and France, did "not obligate Israel in any way," calling it a "shameful capitulation of some leaders to Palestinian terror".

On Thursday, he said he would meet with US President Trump for a fourth time in Washington.

"I will discuss with him the great opportunities that our victories have brought, as well as our need to complete the goals of the war: to bring back all our hostages, to defeat Hamas and to expand the circle of peace that has opened up to us," Netanyahu said.

US envoy Steve Witkoff said Wednesday he expected a breakthrough related to Gaza in the coming days, saying Trump had presented a plan to Arab and Islamic countries.

"We presented what we call the Trump 21-point plan for peace in the Mideast and Gaza," Witkoff said.

"I think it addresses Israeli concerns as well as the concerns of all the neighbours in the region," he said on the sidelines of the General Assembly, without elaborating on the 21 points.

"We're hopeful, and I might say even confident, that in the coming days we'll be able to announce some sort of breakthrough."

An Israeli air strike on a home where displaced people had taken refuge in central Gaza killed at least 11 people on Thursday, the territory's civil defence spokesperson told the media.

In recent weeks the military has been carrying out a ground assault on Gaza City, the territory's largest urban centre, forcing hundreds of thousands of people to flee.

Agence France-Presse