UNITED NATIONS, United States, Sept 26, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas on Thursday rejected any future role for Hamas and condemned antisemitism, as he appealed for full global support for a state in the face of Israeli annexation threats.

Days after several Western powers led by France recognized a state of Palestine, the veteran 89-year-old leader was forced to address the UN General Assembly by video after the United States took the unusual step of denying him a visa to come to New York.

With far-right Israeli ministers calling for an annexation of the West Bank to kill prospects of a Palestinian state, Abbas made clear he was different from Hamas, which is based in Gaza and is the rival to his Fatah movement.

"Hamas will not have a role to play in governance. Hamas and other factions will have to hand over their weapons to the Palestinian National Authority," Abbas said in a speech that received loud applause by delegates watching the video.

He distanced himself from the Hamas attack of October 7, 2023 -- the deadliest day ever for Israel, in which 1,219 people died, mostly civilians -- as well as frequent accusations by Israel's supporters that the Palestinians are denying the rights of Jews.

"Despite all that our people have suffered, we reject what Hamas carried out on October 7 -- actions that targeted Israeli civilians and took them hostage -- because these actions do not represent the Palestinian people, nor do they represent their just struggle for freedom and independence," Abbas said.

"We reject confusing the solidarity with the Palestinian cause and the issue of antisemitism, which is something that we reject based on our values and principles," he said.

Abbas nonetheless called the nearly two-year Israeli assault in Gaza "one of the most horrific chapters of humanitarian tragedy of the 20th and 21st century" -- by implication putting it alongside the Holocaust against the Jews by Nazi Germany during World War II.

Israel's offensive has killed more than 65,500 Palestinians, according to health ministry figures in the Hamas-run territory that the United Nations considers reliable.

Abbas called for an interim committee led by the Palestinian Authority to be put in charge temporarily of Gaza, of which Hamas took control in 2007.

- Trump seen opposing annexation -

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who will address the United Nations on Friday, said in a statement before Abbas's speech that Western recognition "does not obligate Israel in any way" and that "there will be no Palestinian state."

US President Donald Trump has staunchly backed Netanyahu in rejecting Palestinian statehood and has stood by him as Israel expands attacks across the region including to Qatar and Iran.

But Trump also put forward a 21-point plan to end the Gaza war in a meeting Tuesday with Arab and Islamic states.

Saudi Arabia's Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan said that the leaders impressed upon Trump the risks if Israel annexes the West Bank.

"I think the president of the US understands very well the risks and dangers of annexation in the West Bank," he told reporters at the United Nations.

French President Emmanuel Macron earlier said that Trump was aligned with Europeans against annexation.

Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide of Norway, which helped lead a peace process three decades ago, said it had become clear that Israel did not want progress.

"Israel cannot have an eternal veto against what's happening with the people and all the territory that they illegally occupy," he said.

Macron said that the US proposal incorporates core elements of a French plan including disarmament of Hamas and the dispatch of an international stabilization force.

A French position paper seen by AFP calls for the gradual transfer of security control in Gaza to a reformed Palestinian Authority once a ceasefire is in place.

Abbas's Palestinian Authority exerts limited control over parts of the West Bank under agreements reached through the Oslo peace accords that started in 1993.