Palestinian president: Hamas will have no role in governing postwar Gaza

By FARNOUSH AMIRI and LEE KEATH
Associated Press

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The Palestinian president, speaking over video after the United States revoked his visa, told world leaders Thursday that his people “reject” the 2023 Hamas attack on Israel and pledged that the militant group would have no role in governing Gaza after war ends and must hand over its weapons.

Mahmoud Abbas told the U.N. General Assembly that Palestinians in Gaza “have been facing a war of genocide, destruction, starvation and displacement” by Israel. His speech came as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu heads to New York to give his own address in person on Friday.

Despite laying out in gruesome detail the death and destruction in Gaza, Abbas said Palestinian authorities “reject” the action Hamas carried out on Oct. 7 and that it does not represent their people. He also laid out his vision for what government would look like in territories once the war is over, saying that the Palestinian Authority is “ready to bear full responsibility for governance and security. He added that “Hamas will have no role to play in governance,” and will have to hand over their weapons to the Palestinian authorities.

“There can be no justice if Palestine is not freed,” Abbas said.