Palestinian leader accuses Israel of \\\'genocide\\\' at UN

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has accused Israel of carrying out a ‘war of genocide’ in Gaza in his speech at the UN General Assembly. Abbas said Israeli ‘war crimes’ in Gaza should be punished, but stopped short of saying he would take the issue to the International Criminal Court. His speech brought strong condemnation from Israel and from the US, which described it as ‘offensive’. The 50-day conflict left about 2,100 Palestinians and 73 Israelis dead. The UN says that most of the Palestinian dead were civilians. Israel says the high civilian death toll was because of Hamas fighters launching attacks from residential areas, including schools and mosques, drawing return fire. Earlier this month Israel ordered a criminal investigation into five incidents in which civilians are believed to have died, and is investigating over 100 incidents in total, according to BBC.